Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has confirmed it was behind the air strike that killed the number two leader of Yemen’s Al Houthi militants last week.
“The heroes of the Royal Air Force were able to successfully target the leader of the Al Houthi militia Saleh Al Sammad,” Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid Bin Salman, tweeted late Tuesday.
Al Sammad, head of Al Houthis’ supreme political council, was killed Thursday in the western province of Hodeida.
Prince Khalid said the strike was overseen by his brother, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, after Al Sammad threatened a wave of missile strikes against Saudi Arabia.
Prince Mohammad, who is also the Saudi defence minister, has been the driving force behind Riyadh’s involvement in the Yemen war, which is aimed to restore the internationally-recognised government after an Al Houthi coup in late 2014.
Al Sammad is the most senior Al Houthi leader to have been killed since the coalition intervened in March 2015 and his death is a major blow to the militant group.
Al Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the war, which shares a land border with northern Yemen.
