Yemen Monitor/ Sana’a / private:
It seems that the Houthi armed group has decided to target the rest of their partners in the general people’s Congress party, employees of state institutions in their areas of control, on espionage charges and their association with an intelligence cell announced last month.
The campaign has targeted advisors and officials in the ministries of agriculture, education, and planning over the past few weeks, individuals who had been working with international projects implemented in Yemen during previous governments.
According to three security and political sources who spoke to Yemen Monitor, the security and intelligence apparatus led by Abdul Karim al-Khiwani is carrying out a wave of arrests targeting employees in institutions who had been heading government projects.
Over the past few weeks, the Houthis have raided the homes of several government officials in the capital Sanaa, as well as in Amran, Dhamar, and Hajjah, according to the sources, who spoke to Yemen Monitor on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, Mahdi al-Mash’at, head of the Houthi Political Council, met in Sanaa with al-Khiwani to discuss the “American-Israeli espionage cell” that was announced last June.
Al-Mash’at claimed that the intelligence service had uncovered “the largest espionage cell in the world.”
He stressed the “importance of cleansing state institutions of any breaches and systematic sabotage, and the importance of moving towards building a strong Yemeni state in the region.”
The Houthis suspect government employees linked to international projects or local and international aid organizations, as well as those who studied abroad or hold dual nationalities and reside in areas under their control.
In their Monday meeting, the Houthis called for reporting any suspected spies, and also announced an amnesty for anyone who “reports themselves and is linked to the cell.”
The Houthis had already launched a campaign in May targeting loyalists of the General People’s Congress party in an attempt to tighten the noose on its leadership allied with them in Sanaa, amid fears of links between party members and Ammar Saleh, the security commander who works as an advisor to the United Arab Emirates, and his brother Tariq Saleh, a member of the Presidential Leadership Council who leads a force supported by Abu Dhabi on the country’s west coast.
