[GEO.TV] The prime minister of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's Iran's Houthi sock puppets
 ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth . Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
government and several other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on the capital Sana, the news agency run by the group said on Saturday, citing a statement by the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat.
A number of others were maimed in Thursday's strike, it said, without providing details.
Israel said on Friday that the Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM! ...
had targeted the Iran-aligned group's chief of staff, defence minister and other bigwigs and that it was verifying the outcome.
Mashat's statement did not make clear whether the Houthi defence minister was among the casualties.
A number of others were maimed in Thursday’s strike, it said, without providing details.
Later on Saturday, the IDF also confirmed that Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahwi was killed alongside several Houthi military officials and other senior members of the group’s political leadership, though it did not name them.
The exact outcome of the strike and the fate of some of those targeted had yet to be determined, it said.
Israel said on Friday that the Arclight airstrike had targeted the Iran-aligned group’s chief of staff, defense minister and other bigwigs and that it was verifying the outcome.
Channel 12, without citing any sources, reported that the IDF assesses the entire Houthi cabinet, including the prime minister and 12 other ministers, were likely killed. The network said the assessment was not definitive.
Mashat’s statement did not make clear whether the defense minister was among the casualties.
Ahmad Ghaleb al-Rahwi became prime minister nearly a year ago, but the de facto leader of the government was his deputy, Mohammed Moftah, who was assigned on Saturday to carry out the prime minister’s duties.
Rahwi was seen largely as a figurehead who was not part of the inner circle of the Houthi leadership.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets had struck a compound in the Sanaa area where senior Houthi figures had gathered, describing the attack as a "complex operation" made possible by intelligence-gathering and air superiority.
On Thursday, Israeli security sources said the targets had been various locations where a large number of senior Houthi officials had gathered to watch a televised speech recorded by leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
Israeli intelligence provided real-time details of the gathering, enabling the strike, which was carried out despite heavy air defenses in the area, the IDF said.
The defense minister, Muhammad Nasser al-Attafi, has been in his role since 2016 and is considered the senior-most official in the organization’s military establishment, according to Channel 12.
He is reported to have established a close relationship with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and with Hezbollah.
Also targeted was Houthi chief of staff Muhammad al-Ghamari, who was reportedly seriously hurt, but not killed, by an Israeli strike in Yemen in June, carried out during Israel’s brief war with Iran.
Thursday’s strikes marked the 16th time that Israel has attacked the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, located some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away.
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