Saleh al-Samad was killed last Thursday after the Saudi-led coalition targeted his residence in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah. Following the killing, the Yemeni Forces issued a statement, promising a "crushing response" to the US and the Saudi-led coalition.
Yemen's Supreme Political Council was formed by the Houthi movement and the General People's Congress Party in 2016 to run the country's affairs in the absence of an effective government amid a civil war that has been going on in Yemen since 2015.
The Houthi rebels control the country's north, including the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the largest port of Hodeidah, while their rival — forces headed by exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi control southern Yemen.