Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Al-Zaakri

Their life

Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Al-Zaakri was a Yemeni media worker associated with the 26 September and Yemen newspapers, two of the country’s major state-affiliated publications. On 10 September 2025, he was killed in Israeli airstrikes that struck the newspapers’ headquarters in Sana’a, an attack described by Yemeni officials as the deadliest massacre of journalists since the Maguindanao massacre. Al-Zaakri was among the 31 journalists and media staff killed in the coordinated strikes on Sana’a and Al-Jawf governorate, which resulted in widespread destruction and heavy civilian casualties. His death occurred amidst escalating regional tensions, following Houthi strikes on Israeli targets days earlier. Al-Zaakri is remembered as one of the many Yemeni journalists who lost their lives in what local media associations described as a deliberate assault on the press and on the right to truth.

Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Al-Zaakri served as a media worker for the 26 September newspaper and the Yemen newspaper, both based in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. These newspapers play an important role in state communication and public information dissemination in Yemen. On September 10, 2025, as he and his colleagues worked inside a major newspaper complex, Israeli airstrikes hit the building, killing Al-Zaakri along with dozens of other journalists, editors, reporters, and support staff.

The strikes destroyed the headquarters of both newspapers and were part of wider attacks on Sana’a and Al-Jawf that killed 46 people in total and injured 165, according to the Yemeni Ministry of Health. The incident drew sharp condemnation from Yemeni media institutions, which described the attack as part of a broader pattern of targeting journalists in Yemen and Gaza. Al-Zaakri’s death highlighted the extreme dangers journalists face in conflict zones and contributed to growing international concern about the deliberate target

How they died

Killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting the headquarters of two major Yemeni newspapers in Sana’a.

Al-Zaakri died as a result of aerial bombardment when Israeli forces carried out coordinated airstrikes on Sana’a and Al-Jawf governorate. The specific strike that killed him hit the newspaper complex of 26 September and Yemen newspapers, collapsing parts of the building and killing dozens of media workers instantly. Civil defense teams continued recovering bodies for hours after the attack. Media organizations characterized the strike as a deliberate attempt to silence journalism and restrict the flow of information.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Al-Zaakri, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources