ADEN (Reuters) – Yemen’s deputy chief of staff was killed on Wednesday when the armed Houthi movement battling government forces fired a ballistic missile at an army camp on the Red Sea coast, according to a military source.
The attack killing Major General Ahmed Saif al-Yafei was a blow to Yemeni government forces and hit outside the strategic coastal city of al-Mokha, which they captured from the Iran-allied Houthis last month.
A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war nearly two years ago to back President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after he was ousted from the capital Sanaa by Houthi forces.
“Major General Ahmed Saif al-Yafei was killed along with several others when the missile hit the camp near al-Mokha city early this morning,” the military source, who is also a member of the general’s family, told Reuters.
Saudi-owned Arabiya TV also reported Yafei’s death.
Al-Mokha lies close to the Bab al-Mandab strait through which much of the world’s oil passes.
(Reporting by Mohamed Mukashaf; Writing by Tom Finn; Editing by Catherine Evans)
