Salim Abdullah Abdo Ahmed al-Watiri, a Yemeni media worker who worked for the 26 September and Yemen newspapers, was killed during Israel’s targeted airstrikes on the offices of the two publications in the capital, Sanaa. The September 10 attacks killed 31 journalists and media support workers.
Nasser al-Khadri, editor-in-chief of 26 September, described the incident as an “unprecedented massacre of journalists.” He said multiple strikes hit the newsroom around 4:45 p.m. as staff were finalizing publication of the weekly paper, which serves as the official outlet of the Yemeni army.
Abdulrahman Mohammed Mutahar, a journalist living 500 meters from the site, told CPJ the attack caused “massive explosions unlike anything Sanaa had seen since 2015,” referring to the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on the city in 2015. He said about eight missiles reduced the Moral Guidance Directorate headquarters — where the newspapers’ offices were located — to rubble, leaving some journalists’ bodies buried underneath.
On September 10, the Israel Defense Forces said on the social platform X that it had struck “military targets” in Sanaa and northern Al-Jawf governorate, including the “Houthi Public Relations Department,” which it said distributed “psychological terror.”
In a September 18 email to CPJ, the IDF’s Foreign Media Desk said the “terrorist regime’s Public Relations Department is responsible for distributing and disseminating propaganda messages in the media, including speeches by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik and statements from spokesman Yahya Saree.”
The names of the 31 journalists and media workers killed are listed here and here.