The Houthi rebels announced an intelligence commander was killed as several US airstrikes targeted Houthi positions throughout rebel-held Yemen on Monday night.
The Houthis said that Col. Abdul Nasser Sarhan al-Kamali was killed in one of the US strikes.
Unnamed sources told the Al Hadath network two airstrikes hit Houthi weapons stores on Kamaran Island in Hodeidah as well as an ammunition depot in the al-Juba area of the Marib governate.
Five other strikes targeted the Al Jumaimah area in the Sanaa governorate, Al Hadath reported.
Al Hadath also said that the Houthis carried out a campaign of arrests following the strikes. Among those said to be detained was the deputy head of the Houthi intelligence service over suspicions that he leaked coordinates for targets.
An intense campaign of airstrikes in Yemen under US President Donald Trump targeting the rebels since March has killed at least 70 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.
The campaign shows no signs of stopping as the Trump administration has repeatedly linked its airstrikes on the Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
CENTCOM did not comment on the individual strikes, but posted footage of aircraft preparing for attacks on Monday evening.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, the US president hailed the success of the ongoing operation.
“It’s been a bad three weeks for the Houthis,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added, “and it’s about to get worse.”
He said the US has destroyed underground facilities, weapons manufacturing sites, bunkers, troops and air defense assets.
“We are not going to relent,” said Hegseth, “and it’s only going to be more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships.”
He added that the US has been “very clear” to the Iranians that they must stop providing support for the Houthis.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched at least 10 ballistic missiles at Israel, resuming a campaign of bombardment they began in support of Gaza.
The missiles have all been intercepted by the air defenses, but they set off sirens that send millions of Israelis scrambling to shelters at all hours of the day and night. On Friday night, the IDF intercepted a drone that the Houthis later said was aimed at the Tel Aviv region.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian terror group Hamas led some 5,000 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages to the enclave.
The Iran-backed Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year.
They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success. In addition, they targeted Israel with missiles and drones, killing one person in Tel Aviv and causing significant damage on a number of occasions. Most of the projectiles were intercepted.
The attacks greatly raised the profile of the Houthis, who faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting dissent and aid workers in Yemen amid a decade-long stalemated war that has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
Lazar Berman and Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.