Israel provided the US with critical intelligence from an on-the-ground source in Yemen that was later leaked as part of the SignalGate scandal, according to a report.
In the Signal messages, national security adviser Mike Waltz told top Trump administration officials that intelligence had a “positive ID” of the Houthis’ “top missile guy” entering a building that was hit in the US airstrikes.
That message was revealed by the Atlantic this week after its editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to a private Signal chat on March 11 to plan out the strike.
Privately, Israeli officials complained to Washington that Waltz’s message about that intelligence went public, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a US official.
“The first target—their top missile guy—we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it is now collapsed,” Waltz wrote in the leaked message, which came shortly after the March 15 strike against the Houthis began.
Waltz didn’t describe the source of that positive ID and earlier in the leaked chat claimed that Washington received “multiple positive ID[s].”
In addition to the Israeli source in Yemen, the US had evidence from surveillance drones that the strikes were successful, according to the report.
The revelation about the Israeli source comes as the Trump administration is trying to fend off accusations that classified information was shared in the leaked Signal messages.
During hearings before the Senate and House Intelligence Committees this week, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe argued that they did not personally shared classified material on the chat.
“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard said at one point.
Gabbard and Ratcliffe suggested that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared specific details about US attack plans against the Houthis would’ve been the one to determine whether or not the message he shared was classified.
The director of national intelligence has also maintained that “no sources, methods, locations or names of targets” were shared in the Signal thread, something Ratcliffe has echoed as well.
Hegseth has similarly claimed that “the messages have no locations, no sources and methods, and no war plans” and that “foreign partners had already been notified strikes were imminent.”
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes has also said that “No classified information was included in the thread.” President Trump similarly contended that the chat had “no classified information, as I understand.”
But typically the existence of a source in a foreign country that has supplied critical intelligence is something that would likely be carefully guarded.
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee have asked the Pentagon watchdog to review whether or not classified material was shared on the Signal chat.
Trump and top officials have underscored that the strike against the Houthis on March 15 was a success. In all, the US military hit over 30 key targets, including outposts for key Houthi leadership and experts, according to the Pentagon.
Waltz claims he has taken “full responsibility” for the fiasco but also implied on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” that he was in a situation where “somebody else’s number” was in contact for a different person.
Trump has stood by his top deputies amid the firestorm.
