Safeguarding Sovereignty: Yemen’s Massive Spy Ring Bust

Sanaa’s strategic takedown of a major US–Israeli spy network signifies a historic milestone in Yemen’s battle for autonomy, dismantling decades of foreign espionage and subversion to keep Yemen weak.

Khalil Nasrallah

JUN 20, 2024

(Photo Credit: The Cradle)

On 10 June, Sanaa announced it had achieved a “strategic intelligence breakthrough” by uncovering one of the largest US–Israeli spy networks in Yemen.

This effort, spanning years, succeeded in deciphering the “code” of the US intelligence spy network, leading to the arrest of its members, the unveiling of their methods, the tasks they completed, their objectives, and their recruitment processes.

Earlier this month, Major General Abdul Hakim al-Khaiwani, head of the Security and Intelligence Service in the Yemeni capital, revealed the dismantling of the US–Israeli spy network whose tasks had impacted various aspects of the state militarily, economically, and socially. 

Crucially, most of the spy network’s members concealed their activities under “the cover of international organizations and UN agencies.” Yemeni officials claimed the group was linked to the CIA and had been carrying out espionage activities in the country for years, initially through the US embassy before Washington suspended its operations in February 2015.

As proof, Khaiwani said the network possessed modern spy equipment and was in contact with US intelligence officers. 

Arrests reveal scale of espionage network

Confidential sources confirm to The Cradle that Yemeni security services began arresting network members between late 2021 and early 2022 and say the actual number of detainees is significantly higher than the 10 individuals whose confessions were broadcast on Yemeni media outlets.

The confessions ready for broadcast lasted two hundred hours, while many more are being prepared for broadcast and put before Yemeni and international public opinion.

The Cradle’s information suggests that the timing of Yemen’s spy ring announcement, the details leaked about the espionage missions, and the 10 confessions aired widely are influenced by two main factors. 

The first is technical, related to the completion of arrest procedures, the extraction of confessions, and the identification of all those involved. The second factor is related to the ongoing military confrontation with the US and Israel over their brutal war waged on the Gaza Strip.

Spies systematically undermined Yemen’s sovereignty

The Yemeni security services have revealed that the foreign espionage network engaged in a wide range of activities over the decades, leading to a significant breach of the state and perpetuating Yemen’s weakness at multiple levels. 

According to official statements, these activities include uncovering the funding sources for military entities and conducting intelligence activities targeting Yemen’s military capabilities. They monitored military movements and strategic capabilities of Yemeni forces, providing coordinates to the US and Israel. 

Additionally, they supplied hostile intelligence services with critical information on various formal and informal sectors.

The network infiltrated state authorities to influence decision-makers and advance decisions and laws favorable to its agenda. It worked to cultivate important Yemeni personalities, coordinating visits to the US to influence and recruit them. 

Among those recruited were economists and owners of oil and commercial companies, who were linked to American and Israeli intelligence. 

In the agriculture sector, the network sought to undermine national productivity and increase import dependence by recruiting spies in the Ministry of Agriculture, sabotaging research bodies and seed propagation centers, and implementing detrimental development programs. It even introduced pests and toxic pesticides, subsidized unsustainable seed varieties, created livestock epidemics through fatal vaccine programs, and degraded soil quality with harmful chemical fertilizers.

In the health sector, the spy ring implemented projects and programs that contributed to spreading diseases and epidemics across various Yemeni governorates. 

It also carried out other destructive plans that negatively impacted the educational process, separating education from development.

The tasks carried out by the network were found to date back decades, highlighting the extensive penetration of state powers and a systematic foreign effort to weaken Yemen economically, politically, and socially. Those goals align with the broader geopolitical objectives of Yemeni adversaries Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the US.

Under the guise of humanitarian aid 

The magnitude of Sanaa’s intelligence breakthrough was reflected in UN and western statements, most notably by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi to discuss the arrests of “UN and diplomatic staff,” according to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry. 

Traditionally, US contact with the Omanis has been related to seeking mediation with the Yemeni authorities in Sanaa.

Railing against the west’s exploitation of humanitarian work to facilitate espionage, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Supreme Political Council, made explicitly clear: 

We have no position against UN organization employees, but we condemn the US for employing its spies under the guise of humanitarian and diplomatic work ... We are ready to hand over the evidence and documents to a third party that rejects the violation of countries’ sovereignty with such espionage acts, and the US statements in this regard are a denial of evident facts, like denying the sun in broad daylight.

Yemen has endured a decade of severe aggression, including a nine-year US-backed war waged by its regional allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, economic and financial blockades, the deprivation of vital national resources such as oil, and attacks on its central bank. 

Despite these hardships, Yemeni security services have uncovered and dismantled various espionage, sabotage, and sedition networks over the years. These efforts have contributed to maintaining currency stability in Sanaa-controlled areas of the country – unlike in territories occupied by foreign forces and their proxies – and have initiated programs such as the “agricultural jihad” to mitigate food shortages caused by foreign design.

Working towards a stronger Yemen

Sanaa can counter the effects of western espionage infiltration by taking further measures to conceal its military industries, addressing and reversing state deficiencies, particularly in the vital agricultural sector, enhancing educational curricula, strengthening the domestic health sector, and engaging cautiously with international organizations, including the UN and foreign NGOs.

There is little doubt that the arrest of the current espionage network, building on previous security successes, marks a significant turning point for Yemen. It serves as a catalyst for upcoming stages, impacting both the ongoing regional military confrontation and the broader Yemeni crisis. 

Sanaa acknowledges that the confrontation with the US and its allies is ongoing and irreversible, particularly as it seeks to rectify the weaknesses and remnants of Yemen’s pre-revolutionary government. 

The decades-long tenure of the late president Ali Abdullah Saleh opened Yemen’s floodgates to western intelligence agencies and operatives, stripping it of its sovereign agency by reducing it to Saudi Arabia’s backyard and plunging it into poverty despite the nation’s abundant resources.

The dismantling of this spy network is just one aspect of Sanaa’s efforts to safeguard the state and society from infiltration, enabling it to persist in its waterways confrontation against US and UK aggressors and Israel-destined shipping vessels.

These efforts have allowed Sanaa to play a significant regional role – recognized by both allies and adversaries today – most vividly in Yemen’s bold intervention in the Gaza war in support of the Palestinian resistance. 

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.