Yemen merges government, pro-Emirati intelligence agencies into unified agency

The head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) in Yemen, Rashad Al-Alimi, on Thursday issued a decision to merge government intelligence services and similar agencies affiliated with forces loyal to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into a unified command.

Yemen’s news agency, Saba, reported that the decision issued by Al-Alimi stipulated the merger of the Political Security Organisation, the National Security Services and similar entities affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), as well as the Republican Guard Forces and Giants Brigade, into a single intelligence agency under his leadership, called the Central Agency for State Security.

According to Saba: “The agency reports to the Chairman of the PLC and is responsible for implementing all the tasks and responsibilities assigned to it.”

Al-Alimi also issued, according to the agency, Resolution No. 6 of 2024 to establish a specialised security apparatus called the Counter-Terrorism Service with Major General Shalal Ali Shaye, a leader of the STC, as its head.

These decisions aim to end the conflict in the tasks and expertise of intelligence services in government-controlled areas following the merger of political entities supporting legitimacy into the PLC in April 2022.

The STC in Yemen is headed by a member of the PLC, Aidaroos Al-Zubaidi, while the Republican Guard Forces and Giants Brigade are led by PLC members Tareq Saleh and Abdul Rahman Al-Muharami, all of which are funded by the UAE.

Under the pretext of marginalising and excluding the south politically and economically, the STC calls for separating southern Yemen from its north, which is being met with widespread and official rejection.

For nearly two years, Yemen has witnessed a lull after a war that began in March 2015 between pro-government forces supported by an Arab military coalition led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, backed by Iran, who control several governorates, including the capital, Sanaa.

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