Houthis arrest five people accused of sabotage and espionage

Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced this Monday the arrest of five people who allegedly tipped off the location of missile and drone emplacements during attacks in the Red Sea to the United States and Israel.

The Houthi-controlled Interior Ministry said in a statement that the five detainees were recruited by an intelligence agency called Force 400, run by Ammar Saleh, the nephew of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The purpose of the mission, according to the memo, was to “gather information and identify launch sites” used by rebels on the west coast of Yemen “in the name of the American and Israeli enemy.”

The five men were recruited shortly after the Houthis launched military operations against commercial shipping in the Red Sea on November 19, 2023, and carried out several rocket and drone attacks on Eilat in southern Israel.

According to the Houthi ministry, the detainees admitted that they “controlled the launch sites of missiles, drones and warships” and “provided coordinates” to Force 400 authorities so that these points “would be attacked by American and British fighters.”

The five were accused of “carrying out criminal and sabotage operations” and planning “assassination operations using silenced weapons and explosive materials” to “provoke instability” in Houthi-controlled areas, which make up much of northwest Yemen. .

The statement reminds that “working for hostile spy agencies carries the death penalty” but promises to “make every effort” to stop “infiltration attempts by the American and Israeli enemy.”

Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi said last Thursday that the US-British-led military coalition had carried out 425 attacks on rebel positions in Yemen since the campaign began in mid-January, killing 40 militants and wounding 35 others.