Yemen’s security forces have dismantled a major espionage network operating for the US and Israeli intelligence services amid a campaign by the Arab country to defend the people of Palestine in their struggle against the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
Yemen's Saba News Agency said in a Monday report that the security services in the country, in cooperation with its defense ministry, had carried out an operation to arrest members of the spy ring known as Force 400.
It said Force 400 had been led by Ammar Affash, a man who has long been on Yemen’s wanted list because of his efforts to recruit people to carry out sabotage operations for the US and the Israeli regime.
The group was mainly operating in areas in western coasts of Yemen where the country has based missile and drone capacities that have been used to attack shipping activities linked to the US, Britain and Israel.
A video of confessions of 18 members of the spy ring were released showing that they had been supplying information about Yemen’s missile, drone, and ship launch sites to the US and Israeli intelligence services. The information has enabled attacks by US and British warplanes on Yemen, said the report by Saba.
The spies also relayed information about the increase in the number of fighters recruited by Yemen’s ruling Ansarullah movement in recent months.
One of the spies said that he had sold the intelligence for only 300 Saudi Riyals ($80 USD).
Yemen started launching attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in November, more than a month after Israel invaded Gaza.
The Yemeni attacks later expanded to cover US and British ships after the two countries launched airstrikes on Yemen to force it to stop its pro-Palestine campaign.