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ADEN, Yemen: Yemen’s Houthis held a funeral Monday for their military chief of staff who was killed in a recent Israeli strike, with more than 1,000 people gathered for the ceremony in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa.
The Iranian-backed group acknowledged last week that one of their senior officers, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim Al-Ghamari, was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with other top leaders. The Houthis did not say when the strike took place but this death further escalating tensions between the rebels and Israel.
The funeral comes as a fragile US-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war is holding in the Gaza Strip and nearly two months after Israeli airstrikes killed senior Houthi government officials in Sanaa, including their prime minister, Ahmed Al-Rahawi, and several other rebel ministers.
The Houthis said Al-Ghamari was killed along with his 13-year-old son Hussain and “several of his companions,” according to the rebel-controlled SABA news agency, which didn’t provide further details.
Hundreds attended funeral prayers at a mosque in Sabeen Square in Sanaa, with many more gathered outside as the caskets were brought out. A poster of Al-Ghamari was was held by the crowd in tribute and several mourners wore sashes bearing his image and the Yemeni and Palestinian flags.
Acting Prime Minister Mohamed Muftah praised Al-Ghamari, saying Monday he had inspired his troops with the highest level of dedication.
Many in the crowd vented their anger at Israel.
One of the mourners, Ayham Hassan, said “Israel is the biggest enemy for Arabs and Muslims.” He spoke to The Associated Press over the phone from Sanaa.
The United Nations had sanctioned Al-Ghamari for his “leading role in orchestrating the Houthis’ military efforts that are directly threatening the peace, security and stability of Yemen, as well as cross-border attacks against ����ֱ��.”
The US Treasury also sanctioned him in 2021 for his responsibility in “orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces impacting Yemeni civilians” and said he had been trained by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The United States and Israel launched an air and naval campaign against the Houthis in response to the rebels’ missile and drone attacks on Israel and on ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis said they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians over the war in Gaza in targeting ships. Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods pass each year.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister said Monday that a small contingent of US military advisers will remain in the country for now to coordinate with US forces in Syria combating the Daesh group.
Washington and Baghdad agreed last year to wind down an American-led coalition fighting Daesh in Iraq by this September, with US forces departing some bases where they have been stationed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani told a small group of journalists in Baghdad that US military advisers and support personnel are now stationed at the Ain Al-Asad air base in Western Iraq, a base adjacent to the Baghdad airport, and the Al-Harir air base in northern Iraq
Al-Sudani noted that the agreement originally stipulated a full pullout of US forces from Ain Al-Asad by September, but that “developments in Syria” since then “required maintaining a small unit” of between 250 and 350 advisers and security personnel at the base.
He said they would work “to support counter-ISIS surveillance and coordination with the Al-Tanf base” in Syria.
He added that “other US sites are witnessing gradual reductions in personnel and operations.”
After the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December, fears arose in Iraq of an Daesh resurgence taking advantage of the ensuing security vacuum as well as of weapons abandoned by the former Syrian army.
Al-Sudani maintained that the extremist group, which seized wide swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria a decade ago “no longer poses a significant threat inside Iraq.”
Iraq has sought to balance Iraq’s relations with the United States and Tehran and to avoid being pulled into regional conflicts, a policy that the prime minister said he will continue.
“We put Iraq first, and we do not wish to act as a proxy for anyone,” he said. “Iraq will not be a battlefield for conflicts.”
At the same time, Al-Sudani urged the US to return to negotiations with Iran, describing the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” approach to curtail Iranian influence as “counterproductive.”
“Iran is an important and influential country that must be treated with respect and through direct dialogue,” he said.
There have been tensions between Baghdad and Washington over the presence of Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias that formed to fight Daesh, was formally placed under the control of the Iraqi military in 2016 but in practice still operates with significant autonomy.
The Iraqi parliament has been considering legislation that would solidify the relationship between the military and the PMF, drawing objections from Washington.
Al-Sudani did not directly address the proposed legislation but said his government’s program “includes disarmament and national dialogue to remove any justification for carrying weapons.”
“We encourage all factions to either integrate into state institutions or engage in political life,” which could include becoming political parties and running for election, he said.
Iraq is preparing for parliamentary elections next month that will determine where Al-Sudani serves a second term.
“Armed factions that have transformed into political entities have the constitutional right to participate” in those elections, the prime minister said.