Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended his condolences to Ansarullah Leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi over the demise of his brother who was assassinated on Friday. RNA - "No doubt that this big crime along with other crimes committed in the endless war against the Yemeni nation, reflects the weakness and frustration of the warmongering aggressors and hit-men in confrontation with the Yemeni forces,” Zarif said in his message on Saturday.
He added that the assassination strengthens the “veracity of the proud Yemeni nation”.
A number of Yemeni Ansarullah commanders, including Ibrahim al-Houthi, the brother of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, were assassinated in Western Sana'a on Friday.
"The treacherous hands affiliated with the US-‘Israeli’ aggression and its tools assassinated Ibrahim Badreddine al-Houthi," according to a Friday statement from Yemen's Interior Ministry.
The statement did not provide any further details regarding al-Houthi's assassination, who is said to have been an influential military commander among the Ansarullah forces.
Other Yemeni sources reported that al-Houthi's body, along with a number of Ansarullah commanders, had been discovered in a house following a Saudi strike in the city of Haddeh in Yemen's west-central province of Sana’a.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah revolutionary movement.
However, resistance by Yemen’s armed forces, led by the Ansarullah, has pushed the Saudi war to a stalemate, with Yemeni forces increasingly using sophisticated weaponry in retaliatory attacks against the coalition.
Arab media outlets reported on Saturday that the Yemeni intelligence services could identify the team which had assassinated Ibrahim al-Houthi, finding footprints of the Saudi spy agencies.
The Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel quoted sources in Yemen as saying that most members of the assassination team have been arrested and are under interrogation.
They added that the team was affiliated to the Saudi intelligence agencies and was active under the supervision of one of the leaders of the militants loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Salih.
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