Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari

Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari (; – 28 August 2025) was a Yemeni militant who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Houthi-led faction of the Yemeni Armed Forces, holding the rank of Major General.

Early life Al-Ghamari was born in 1979 or 1984 in Izla Dhaen, Washhah district, Hajjah Governorate, Yemen. He studied at the Hussain Badr al‑Din al‑Houthi Institute in 2003. After the death of Hussein al-Houthi that year, he became responsible for relocating "al-Muhajiroin", the name for fighters from outside the Saada area, to Saada's Bani Mu'adh area, where they received training to be integrated into the Houthi military. He merged the group's tribal components, which it called the "People's Committees", into their Ministry of Defense. He later promoted the construction of ammunition and explosives manufacturing facilities and oversaw the recruitment of explosives experts into the militia.

Al-Ghamari fought in all six wars against the Yemeni government between 2004 and 2010. In 2005, al-Ghamari established the "Death Brigades" and the "Hussein Brigades". He was appointed as a supervisor in Hajjah in 2007, and that same year he participated in the establishment and arming of the militia's first suicide units.

Al-Ghamari coordinated military campaigns, including cross-border missile/drone strikes in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and latterly at Israel. He led offensives in Marib province (2021–22), which threatened nearly a million internally displaced people. During the Red Sea crisis, al-Ghamari commanded missile and drone attacks against Israel as well as the attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.

Sanctions & international status He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in May 2021 as a Specially Designated National (SDN) for coordinating offensive operations, and added to UN Security Council’s sanctions list in November 2021 for threatening Yemeni peace and stability and cross-border aggression. An Israeli official later stated that he had been wounded in the attack, though this was denied by the Houthis. Some Israeli media reports had initially claimed that al-Ghamari was targeted while he was meeting other Houthi leaders; however, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation later stated that he was at a khat-chewing party.

On 28 August 2025, the IDF again targeted al-Ghamari. Two months later, on 16 October, the Houthis confirmed that al-Ghamari had died, alongside several associates and his 13-year-old son. That same day, the IDF confirmed that al-Ghamari was killed on 28 August.

After his death was announced, the Houthis held a funeral ceremony for al-Ghamari and his son in Sanaa on 20 October 2025.