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Houthi intelligence chief reported killed in US airstrikes
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had said things were ‘about to get worse’ for the rebel group
April 8, 2025 10:36
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had said things were ‘about to get worse’ for the rebel group
April 8, 2025 10:36The Houthi intelligence chief has been killed by a US airstrike in Yemen, according to reports in Saudi media.
The Iran-backed militant group announced the death of Abdul Nasser al-Kamali after US planes struck the country overnight, al-Hadath and al-Arabiya, two news sites based in Riyadh, reported on Tuesday.
The Houthis, armed by Iran and long active in Yemen’s northern mountains, took control of the capital Sana’a and most of the country in 2015 after the government collapsed; a subsequent Saudi-led intervention has failed to dislodge them. The group has recently disrupted shipping in the Red Sea and fired missiles at Israel.
A spokesperson for the Houthis told journalists on the messaging app Signal that US warplanes carried out eleven strikes on Sana’a, with nine more airstrikes reported in neighbouring regions, Al-Hadath reported.
US Central Command has not confirmed or commented the reports. It has said little in public about operations in Yemen since launching a wave of strikes on 15 March, details of which were leaked ahead of time to the editor of the Atlantic.
The latest strikes follow a visit to the White House on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with President Donald Trump for the second time since the US president’s return to office.
During the meeting, Trump announced that the US and Iran were beginning direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Following yesterday’s meeting, hours before the latest strikes on Yemen took place, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the American military would step up its campaign against the group. “We are not going to relent, and it’s only going to be more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships,” he said.
Hegseth said it had been a “bad” three weeks for the Houthis, “and it’s about to get worse.”
He said the Trump administration has been “very clear” with the Iranians that they must cease their support for the group.
According to other unconfirmed reports, US airstrikes on Monday night targeted Houthi weapon stores and ammunition depots.
Al-Hadath reported that the Houthis carried out a series of arrests on members within its ranks following the strikes, including the deputy head of the group’s intelligence service who was detained on suspicion of leaking the coordinates of the depots.