Yemen Monitor/ Newsroom:
The Joint Forces on the West Coast announced today, Saturday, the arrest of a Houthi assassination cell accused of executing and targeting military leaders and journalists in Yemeni government areas, including journalist Mohammed Aydah.
The military media of the “National Resistance” forces, led by Presidential Leadership Council member Tariq Saleh, stated that its intelligence branch, in cooperation with the State Security Service in Aden, arrested two members of the cell, while a pursuit is underway to apprehend a third member.
According to sources, preliminary investigations with the detainees revealed the cell’s involvement in the assassination of journalist Mohammed Aydah in the city of Mukalla (the capital of Hadramawt Governorate), in addition to planning the assassination of military leader Brigadier General Salah Al-Salahi—who recently defected from the Houthis—in Aden.
It explained that the tracking of this cell came following the dismantling of the cell that targeted military leader Yahya Wahish last June. It noted that intelligence monitored Houthi attempts to lure Brigadier General Salah Al-Salahi (former commander of what was known as the Houthi-affiliated Al-Sammad Brigade before his defection and joining of the Joint Forces).
It added that Al-Salahi received calls from cell members claiming to belong to Tariq Saleh’s son (Afash). Under directives from the intelligence branch, Al-Salahi continued to play along with them to lure them in, and a meeting was agreed upon at a hotel in the temporary capital, Aden.
As soon as the time and place of the meeting were determined, a force from the State Security Service raided the agreed-upon location and arrested the cell members present, while investigations continue to track down the remaining linked elements.
