Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday confirmed a Saudi report that remaining Houthi leaders were fleeing Sana’a following Jerusalem’s Aug. 28 attack on the terrorist-controlled capital.
“The remnants of the Houthi leadership are fleeing Sana’a,” the Israeli defense minister wrote in a post on social media, warning: “We knew how to hunt them this time—and we will know how in the future, too.”
He added: “Like all leaders of radical Islamist terror, they care only for themselves and abandon the residents. Just as Hamas leaders do in Gaza and in luxury hotels in Qatar, so too do the Houthis in Yemen.”
Katz’s post followed a report in the London-based Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat, according to which the remaining Houthi leadership was currently in an “unprecedented state of confusion and panic” after last week’s strike, which killed the terrorist group’s senior leadership.
Several senior Houthi leaders have fled Sana’a to more rural areas in the north of the country, the Arabic report claimed, adding that their family members had also been evacuated to more secure locations in Yemen.
The Houthis reportedly instructed their most senior members not to gather in “government” buildings or visit public places, amid fears of additional IDF strikes.
The IDF stated on Saturday that it had “struck a facility that hosted dozens of senior officials of the Houthi terror regime.” The officials were “responsible for the use of force, the military buildup of the Houthi terror regime, and the advancement of terror actions against Israel,” the military added.
The IDF and the Houthis confirmed on Saturday that the Houthi prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several top Cabinet members were killed in the strike.
Al-Rahawi had served as prime minister to the Houthi-led rebels in Yemeni territory under their control since August 2024. He was the most senior official to be eliminated so far in the 22-month Israeli-Houthi conflict.
The Houthis started attacking the Jewish state in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. The Yemeni group said it had joined the war in an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians.
After the IDF operation on Aug. 28, Katz stated: “As we warned Yemen’s Houthis: After the plague of darkness comes the plague of the firstborn. Whoever raises a hand against Israel—his hand will be cut off.”
The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday intercepted a drone launched by Houthi terrorists from Yemen before it crossed into the Jewish state’s territory, the military announced. No sirens were triggered by the attack.
According to Hebrew reports, the UAV came from the west and was shot down off the central Israeli coast. The attack follows reports that two missiles aimed at Israel earlier on Tuesday had fallen short, exploding in Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, the terrorist group said it had launched a missile at the Israeli-owned tanker Scarlet Ray vessel near Saudi Arabia’s port city of Yanbu. No injuries were reported, and the vessel continued its trip.
Monday’s attacks came on the same day that thousands descended on Sanaa for the funerals of 12 Houthi officials killed in the Aug. 28 strike.
Crowds chanted the Houthi slogan “God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam,” Reuters reported.
