Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The White House’s announcement of the killing of a top Houthi missile expert in a U.S. airstrike last March has stirred significant mystery, as the U.S. military remains officially silent and has yet to confirm the information.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz stated in an interview with CBS News that the “chief missile official” of the Houthis was killed in U.S. airstrikes on March 15. He added further details in a secret text conversation revealed by The Atlantic, confirming that the target’s identity had been verified before the strike.
However, U.S. officials speaking anonymously to Reuters stated that they had not received independent confirmation from the U.S. military regarding the event. This is unusual, as the U.S. military typically announces details of major military operations within days.
When Reuters contacted the White House for confirmation, it was referred to the U.S. military, which repeatedly declined to confirm the information or disclose the identity of the deceased.
Even the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, did not officially confirm the report. The organization noted that Abdul Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi is considered “the de facto commander of the strategic missile forces,” but a review of Houthi reports on casualties from March did not reveal any high-ranking figure matching the description.
Mohammed Al-Basha, a Yemen affairs expert, pointed out that the Houthis do not always immediately announce the identities of their fallen members, especially as missile force commanders tend to operate in secrecy.
Meanwhile, Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, stated that the individual mentioned by Waltz was a missile expert trained in Iran and “deeply involved in managing the system.” He added, “If they believe they got him, then they probably did.”
