In a dramatic escalation of Middle Eastern tensions, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have confirmed the death of their military chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, following an Israeli airstrike in August 2025 that also claimed the lives of the Houthi prime minister and several other top officials. The Houthis’ announcement, made public only in mid-October, has sent shockwaves through the region and raised pressing questions about the future of the rebel movement, its leadership, and the fragile ceasefire currently holding in Gaza.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, the Israeli strike on August 28, 2025, specifically targeted the upper echelons of the Houthi leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed this week that al-Ghamari died from wounds sustained during the attack, declaring that he had joined “his fellow members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell.” Katz called the operation “the strike of the firstborn,” referencing a series of coordinated Israeli strikes that day. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed these sentiments, stating, “Another chief of staff in the line of terror chiefs who aimed to harm us was eliminated. We will reach all of them.”
The Houthis, for their part, offered few specifics about the circumstances of al-Ghamari’s death. In a statement broadcast by the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency, the group said al-Ghamari had been killed alongside his 13-year-old son, Hussain, and several companions, though the exact date and identities of the others killed were not disclosed. “His pure soul ascended while he was in the course of his jihadi work,” SABA reported, underscoring the group’s efforts to frame the loss as a martyrdom.
Al-Ghamari, who was born either in 1979 or 1984, was no ordinary military leader. Sanctioned by both the United Nations and the U.S. Treasury, he played a central role in orchestrating the Houthis’ military campaigns, including a major offensive targeting Yemen’s energy-rich Marib province and numerous cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. Treasury described him as “responsible for orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces impacting Yemeni civilians” and noted that he had received military training from Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Israeli military credited al-Ghamari with being “responsible for hundreds of missiles and drone attacks launched toward Israeli civilians and the state of Israel.” His expertise in building the Houthi missile systems and weapons-production infrastructure made him a formidable adversary, and his loss is widely seen as a significant blow to the rebel movement’s operational capacity.
Experts interviewed by The National and other outlets agree that the death of al-Ghamari marks a turning point for the Houthis. Ahmed Nagi, a Yemen expert at Crisis Group, remarked, “Losing a figure of his [al-Ghamari’s] stature is a major setback for the movement and not one that can be easily compensated for. Al-Ghamari’s death could, in the future, lead to the targeting of other top-level commanders, a highly troubling scenario for the movement.”
Still, the Houthis wasted little time in appointing a successor. Maj. Gen. Yusuf Hassan al-Madani, a longtime commander and brother-in-law to the group’s secretive leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, was named the new chief of staff. Like his predecessor, al-Madani has been sanctioned by the U.S. for his military activities, particularly his command over the rebels’ fifth military zone, which includes the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. Al-Madani is viewed as a trusted member of the Houthi inner circle and, according to Yemen expert Baraa Shiban, “some even believed he could be Abdul-Malik’s successor if he was killed.”
Al-Madani’s elevation signals both continuity and risk for the Houthis. “The choice to put someone like al-Madani in an official position risks exposing him, but it shows they don’t trust the other regular commanders to replace al-Ghamari,” Shiban explained. Nagi added, “Al-Madani is one of the top military leaders, but al-Ghamari had more military experience. The group also maintains a network of alternative leaders across its fronts to ensure that any loss can be swiftly compensated.”
Not everyone is convinced that the transition will be smooth. Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani, representing the internationally recognized government in Aden, seized on the Houthis’ delayed announcement as evidence of internal chaos. “The move exposes the extent of their security vulnerabilities and leadership dysfunction, reflected in their confusion, contradictory messages, and chaotic management of the political and media landscape,” al-Eryani posted on X (formerly Twitter). He went further, saying, “Today, the militia appears to be in a state of accelerating collapse, faltering in its decisions, with its factions clashing internally, losing control over its narrative, while its cards are being exposed domestically and internationally.”
The broader regional context is equally fraught. Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israeli targets and international shipping in the Red Sea, claiming to act in solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza war. These attacks have killed at least nine mariners, sunk four ships, and severely disrupted global shipping routes—through which an estimated $1 trillion in goods passed annually before the conflict. The most recent attack, on September 29, 2025, struck the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht, killing one crew member and wounding another.
Israel has responded with a series of strikes on Yemeni ports, power stations, and Sanaa’s international airport, aiming to degrade the Houthis’ military capabilities and deter further attacks. Yet, since a ceasefire took effect in Gaza on October 10, 2025, there have been no reported Houthi attacks on Israel or shipping—a rare and tenuous lull in a conflict that has repeatedly threatened to spill over into broader regional warfare.
The Houthis’ leadership shakeup comes at a precarious moment. While the group has sought to project strength and resilience, the loss of a key military architect like al-Ghamari exposes vulnerabilities and could embolden both internal rivals and external adversaries. As analysts caution, the appointment of al-Madani may help the Houthis weather the immediate crisis, but it remains to be seen whether the movement can maintain cohesion and operational effectiveness in the face of mounting pressure from Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
Meanwhile, the international community is watching closely. The United Nations, which sanctioned al-Ghamari for his role in destabilizing Yemen and orchestrating cross-border attacks, has condemned recent Houthi actions against aid workers and expressed alarm over the group’s growing belligerence. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, “The accusations are extremely disturbing. They’re extremely worrying coming from the leadership. And accusations, calling U.N. staff spies or, as we’ve seen in other contexts, calling them terrorists—all that does is it puts the lives of U.N. staff everywhere at risk, and it’s unacceptable.”
As the dust settles from the August airstrike and the Houthis regroup under new leadership, the future of Yemen’s conflict—and its reverberations across the region—hangs in the balance. The coming weeks will reveal whether the rebels can adapt and reassert their influence, or if the loss of a pivotal commander marks the beginning of deeper fractures within their ranks.