BEIRUT — The Yemeni Interior Ministry announced on Saturday a major intelligence breakthrough, revealing the dismantling of a sophisticated spy network operating under a joint operations room managed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Israeli Mossad, and Saudi intelligence. 

The network, directed from Riyadh, was described as one of the most dangerous espionage structures uncovered in recent years, aiming to destabilize Yemen from within through coordinated intelligence, surveillance, and sabotage operations.

President Mahdi al-Mashat, head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, praised the achievement as a “divine victory,” emphasizing that the success of the operation reflects Yemen’s growing capacity to detect, prevent, and dismantle espionage efforts aimed at undermining its security and unity. 

“This operation reveals the scale of the aggression that seeks to weaken Yemen’s steadfast support for Palestine,” he said, noting that the U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia are targeting Yemen’s position in regional resistance.

According to the Interior Ministry, the spy network had been under long-term monitoring and surveillance before security forces carried out a coordinated operation codenamed “And Their Plot Will Fail”, a reference to a Quranic verse symbolizing the failure of enemy conspiracies. 

The operation led to the arrest of dozens of agents, the seizure of advanced espionage devices, and the exposure of an integrated command chain linking field operatives inside Yemen to officers in Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Washington.

The ministry described the network’s structure as multi-layered and compartmentalized, where small independent cells operated separately to avoid detection. 

These cells of local collaborators carried out intelligence collection, surveillance of military and civilian figures, and the transmission of sensitive data to the operations room abroad. 

Some of the gathered information, officials said, was used to guide airstrikes on civilian targets, including markets, hospitals, and residential areas, resulting in Yemeni casualties during previous years of war.

Captured collaborators confessed that they had received specialized training in Saudi Arabia under the supervision of American, Israeli, and Saudi officers.

The training included techniques of disguise, encryption, and precision reporting, with some agents using humanitarian or developmental projects as cover for espionage.

The Interior Ministry published portions of the interrogations showing that the spies were paid through covert financial channels, including cash deliveries and gold shipments facilitated by Saudi officers.

Among the arrested collaborators were operatives who monitored Yemeni military command posts, rocket launch sites, and security buildings, while others filmed public institutions and residential blocks that were later targeted by coalition airstrikes. 

The ministry said the confessions provide undeniable proof that the U.S.-Israeli-Saudi alliance continues to run a coordinated intelligence war against Yemen, even as open hostilities have fluctuated.

“Core of regional intelligence coordination”

Following the announcement, Yemeni security experts emphasized the strategic and political implications of the operation, arguing that it exposes Saudi Arabia’s central role in regional intelligence coordination alongside Israel and the United States.

Brigadier General Abed al-Sharqi, a security affairs expert, stated in a televised interview that the discovery “confirms that Saudi Arabia serves as the main hub of normalization and coordination for the Zionist-American project in the region.” 

He added that Riyadh’s intelligence partnership with Tel Aviv dates back decades but has now evolved into open cooperation targeting nations that resist U.S. and Israeli dominance.

Similarly, Colonel Najeeb al-Ansi, head of Yemen’s Security Media Center, said that the exposure of this joint spy network demonstrates the failure of the enemy’s intelligence capabilities, just as it failed militarily.

He described the operation as a “strategic intelligence victory” that strengthens public trust in Yemen’s security services and proves their high professionalism and readiness.

Both experts underscored that the operation sends a strong message to foreign intelligence agencies that Yemen is no longer a vulnerable target. 
“The Yemeni state has transitioned from defense to deterrence,” al-Ansi said, adding, “Its intelligence institutions are now capable of operating proactively to neutralize threats before they materialize.”

A message of deterrence 

The Interior Ministry reiterated in its statement that Yemen’s territory will not be a playground for foreign intelligence agencies. It warned that any attempt to infiltrate or sabotage the country’s security will be met with “an iron fist and punishment that spares no traitor.” Officials stressed that the operation’s success is a result of “the vigilance of Yemen’s people and the loyalty of its security forces,” emphasizing the unity between the government and citizens in defending national sovereignty.

Observers see this event as a turning point in Yemen’s ongoing confrontation with the U.S.-Israeli-Saudi coalition. It symbolizes not only an intelligence victory but also a political assertion of independence and deterrence.

The exposure of the spy network, operating from Riyadh and targeting Yemen’s internal stability, underscores a broader reality: that Yemen has evolved from being an object of aggression to an actor capable of shaping the regional balance of power.