Reproducing the Afash Network… A Foreign Tool to Weaken Yemen’s Pro-Palestine Stance

As Yemen’s role in supporting the Palestinian cause and confronting the U.S.-Zionist project in the region grows, a fast-moving political and media campaign is emerging on the domestic scene, driven by figures with well-known ties to the same foreign agendas served by the late Ali Abdullah Saleh over past decades. This effort is neither natural nor patriotic; it is being re-engineered within a deliberate, well-orchestrated plan that exploits living crises, political divisions, and economic pressures as tools to penetrate the domestic front and undermine popular unity on central issues — foremost among them Yemen’s bold and unwavering stance on Palestine and its battle against aggression and siege.

Field realities and political indicators show that this movement is not an independent, internal reaction to economic conditions but part of a much broader external project. Directed and funded from regional and international capitals, it relies on reactivating old networks loyal — politically and functionally — to the previous regime, itself a historical extension of foreign guardianship. This project operates in tandem with escalation in Gaza, aiming to distract attention and weaken Yemen’s internal resolve by reviving tools stripped of legitimacy through the awareness and resilience of the Yemeni people.

Reactivating the Afash System to Distract Sana’a

After the failure of siege and direct military aggression to break Yemen’s pro-Gaza stance, enemy intelligence found itself forced to change strategy — turning to the reactivation of the Afash apparatus. This step represents an attempt to weaken Sana’a by creating internal confrontations that consume its attention, undermining its political and strategic influence in support of the Palestinian cause.

In this context, the Afash system has become a key instrument in a broader plan to contain Sana’a and limit its influence, by drawing the Yemeni interior into contrived battles designed to impose a new form of foreign guardianship over national decision-making. This reflects a strategic shift in the nature of the conflict — from direct military confrontation to a war of political and social influence.

The Afash Network… A Treacherous Extension of a New Colonialism

The Afash network embodies a deeply rooted model of political dependency and service to foreign interests. Its leadership was, for decades, part of the relationships the previous regime cultivated with foreign embassies — foremost the U.S. Embassy, which directly oversaw much of Yemen’s political and security files.

One leaked Wikileaks cable revealed that Saleh told a U.S. Embassy official: “We’ll present the airstrikes as entirely Yemeni operations” — a striking reflection of the regime’s subservience to Washington. This underscores the level of coordination between Saleh’s government and the U.S., including approval for military operations inside Yemen under the pretext of the “war on terror.”

Today, Afash loyalists — inside and outside Yemen — operate on two parallel tracks:

• Abroad, they openly adopt positions aligned with the Zionist enemy.

• At home, they move under covert foreign direction, no less dangerous, rooted in a legacy that glorifies the man who led Yemen into collapse.

Domestically, they act under false pretenses of concern for living conditions, while in reality functioning as ready-made tools for any foreign project in exchange for money or promises of power.

New Domestic Tools… Paid Loyalties and Substitute Agendas

Afash operatives inside Yemen are now deployed to execute a project of distracting Sana’a from within — not through open war but by fracturing political and social cohesion, and by fomenting tension and unrest.

The leading faces of this campaign are merely fronts for a wider coalition supervised by Gulf and Israeli operations rooms, dividing roles across media, politics, and finance.

A leaked document published by a Lebanese newspaper revealed that Gulf actors spent millions of dollars to support local networks in Sana’a tasked with “domestic distraction,” exploiting economic hardships endured by citizens. This shows that rhetoric appealing to public suffering — such as talking about salaries and economic crises — is little more than a façade. These same entities have never condemned the blockade of ports or the theft of oil revenues, despite the latter causing hundreds of millions in documented losses.

An Inheritance of Failure and Plunder… 33 Years of Dependency and Starvation

Defenders of the Afash network cannot point to a single significant achievement during Saleh’s three decades in power. The reality is the opposite: entrenched financial corruption, catastrophic mismanagement, and systematic looting of resources.

A Yemeni businessman and former official stated: “The previous government siphoned off 60% of oil revenues for its private network, while the overwhelming majority of citizens lacked access to drinking water.”

Under Saleh, Yemen lost over $500 billion in oil and gas revenues without any improvement in citizens’ lives. No infrastructure, no vital projects, and no genuine development plans. Entire governorates like Raymah and Al-Mahwit saw no basic services. Even parts of Sana’a remain without sanitation, water, or paved roads to this day. State institutions rented dilapidated buildings despite large annual development budgets. This reveals that the Afash elite never intended to build a state — only a corruption network to protect and inherit their interests.

Afash Loyalists as an Israeli Tool to Undermine Yemen’s Stance

Failing to achieve military victory over Yemen, the enemy has turned to a new strategy: using Afash loyalists as agents of internal chaos. Western intelligence reports indicate that Emirati and Saudi leaders met with Israeli officials, receiving advice to “distract Sana’a from within” as a means of crippling its deterrence capabilities in defense of Gaza.

Funding flows accordingly, with media networks pushing distorted narratives targeting the Supreme Political Council and the National Salvation Government under the pretext of economic failure — without ever acknowledging that the Afash system itself created these conditions and tacitly supported the blockade.

Differentiating Between the GPC and Afash Loyalists Is a National Necessity

It must be emphasized that Afash loyalists do not represent the entire General People’s Congress. Within the GPC, there are patriotic forces that have maintained their position alongside the Yemeni people and nation. As one prominent GPC leader stated publicly: “There are those who stood with us on the true national line, and they must not be lumped together with traitors.”

Those who betrayed from the outset and joined the coalition of aggression are part of the foreign project and must not be confused with those who remained steadfast.

Such differentiation is not only a matter of political integrity — it protects the national front from the deep divisions the enemy seeks to inflame. Political and media actors must be more precise in describing the landscape, as overgeneralization only benefits the Afash loyalists and enables their infiltration.

The Struggle Continues… Securing the Home Front Is a Strategic Imperative

Amid Yemen’s ongoing struggle in support of Palestine, hostile forces are deploying new tactics to reproduce an Afash apparatus that has become nothing but a poisoned dagger in the nation’s side.

Reactivating this apparatus is a desperate bid to contain Sana’a, undermine its strategic role, and entangle it in side battles serving foreign agendas — all while the Yemeni people face complex and pressing challenges.

The current stage demands that national forces remain vigilant, consolidate unity, and dismantle both old and new instruments of foreign tutelage — to ensure Yemen’s independence is preserved and its firm stance against aggression and in support of the Palestinian people’s just struggle remains unshaken.