Three Decades of Rule and Betrayal: Was “Afash” a President—or just a proxy for Washington and Riyadh?

Last updated Aug 14, 2025

In a scene crowded with shiny slogans about “peace” and the “cost of living,” a counterfeit discourse is being pushed onto the Yemeni arena. Some domestic actors claim to care about the people’s livelihood and dignity, while foreign fingers skillfully pull the strings from behind the curtain. Taking center stage are those who now shed crocodile tears over the citizen’s suffering—the very same crowd, and the heirs of those before them, who manufactured that suffering through more than three decades of dependency, looting, and betrayal.

Fast-moving events have cracked open a black box stuffed with shady deals and systematic conspiracies that charted Yemen’s course for 33 years under the rule of the now-dead Ali Abdullah Saleh (“Afash”). The country was turned into a private estate managed from Riyadh, Washington, and Tel Aviv, its resources plundered without mercy, its army hollowed out, its political will shackled, and its regional ties severed. This wasn’t a random deviation or ad-hoc corruption; it was a studied project to keep Yemen weak, submissive, captive to external dictates, and penetrated at its security, economic, and political core.

Today, amid rising regional tension and the ummah’s larger battle against Zionist savagery, the remnants of that bankrupt, defeated system are trying to reboot their role as tools in the enemy’s hand—peddling slogans that preach mercy while practicing treachery—to drag the people away from their sacred struggle and from their sincere support for the oppressed in Gaza.

Within these realities, the “Afash” regime stands out as a focal point for understanding the roots of Yemen’s current crisis: a purpose-built system of treason, corruption, and external subservience, engineered through a wide web of clandestine alliances and dodgy deals aimed at dismantling the state and eroding national sovereignty.

In this report, we lay out the details of that machine: from normalization deals with the Israeli enemy, to the looting of wealth and the deliberate plunge into chaos, to the domestic and foreign instruments now seeking to relaunch the very same betrayal project.

Domestic and Foreign Instruments: Two Sides of the Same Dependency Coin

Across Afash’s rule—and after—it’s one picture with two parallel tracks serving a hostile agenda:

“Afashis” abroad: Those who jumped aboard the aggression from day one, trading any national role for the financial and political perks doled out by Washington, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi.
“Afashis” at home: (with honorable national exceptions within the GPC) who hide behind party or popular banners while taking money and media backing to inflame crises and stoke internal strife—milking the hardship created by the war and blockade to agitate against the national front.

Security and intelligence reports affirm these networks are directed and funded directly by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, under a broader project led by Washington and Tel Aviv, aimed at splitting the national ranks and distracting Yemenis from their greater battle: supporting Palestine and confronting the Zionist enemy.

A Programmed Betrayal: From Day One to the Fall

From the moment the traitor Afash climbed to power in 1978 over the body of the martyred president Ibrahim al-Hamdi, his project was never state-building; it was entrenching foreign influence and turning Yemen into a tool in outside hands. That showed through:

Subservience to Saudi Arabia: The relationship wasn’t mere coordination; it was near-total dependency. WikiLeaks exposed Riyadh’s heavy hand in appointing ministers and senior officials and in steering sovereign decisions—up to imposing the 1998 agreement under which Afash ceded wide swaths of Yemeni land to Saudi Arabia, a step Yemenis considered outright treason.
Obedience to Washington: Under the banner of “counterterrorism,” Afash opened the country to U.S. forces, granting freedom of movement in Yemeni territorial waters, allowing signals posts and operations rooms on Yemeni islands, and folding Yemen into the U.S. regional security grid.
A hidden thread with Tel Aviv: Coordination with the Mossad began in the late 1970s, later morphing into arms deals, intel exchanges, and Israeli listening stations on Socotra and Mayun disguised as “environmental” or “research” facilities.

Soft Normalization: From Secret Channels to Cultural Infiltration

Normalization under Afash wasn’t a rumor or a one-off; it was a gradual, documented track:

The “Esther” deal & the 1991 Immigration Law: Relocating Yemeni Jews and encouraging their migration to occupied Palestine—serving Zionism’s demographic project.
Military/tech deals: A 2016 Foreign Policy investigation revealed secret ties dating back to the 1994 war, including Israeli intel support for Afash in exchange for military facilitation in the Gulf of Aden via Emirati and Jordanian mediation and under U.S. auspices.
Disguised spy hubs: “Environmental centers” and “weather stations” on Socotra and Mayun that were, in reality, Israeli listening posts.
Maritime collusion: Allowing U.S. and Israeli forces to operate in Yemeni waters and detain Yemeni fishermen under Eritrean cover.
Early recruitment: Testimony from former officers says Afash was recruited by Mossad in Asmara in 1973, and Israeli officers were part of his protection detail at Khalid Camp in Mokha.
Late-era military coordination: During the Saada wars, Israeli weapons reached Afash’s forces, alongside intel exchanges with Mossad.

Afash in Service to Al Saud: A Vassal Without Sovereignty

All through his rule, Afash was a primary tool in Riyadh’s hand—not just politically but through direct military and economic tutelage. Saudi Arabia:

Forced arms deals through its channels,
Exerted control over certain air bases and the Yemeni air force’s readiness,
Extended its sway into managing oil fields—especially in al-Jawf—while imposing dictates on Yemen’s economic course.

Looting the Wealth, Starving the People: An Economy Under Afashi Mafia Grip

The take: International reports indicate more than $500 billion in oil, gas, and customs revenue was looted over 33 years and funneled into private accounts in Dubai and Switzerland.
Post-2016 oil plunder: Over 190 million barrels exported, worth more than $13 billion, while the puppet “government” claims only $1.4 billion—laying bare the scale of graft.
Privatization & extortion: Selling off state assets—like Yemenia and Aden’s water authority—outside legal frameworks, and slapping “fees” of up to 30% on investments.
Parking revenues in Saudi banks: Accelerating currency collapse and stripping the state of economic sovereignty.

Dismantling the State and Sinking It in Crises

Internal wars: Orchestrating conflicts in the south and launching wars on Saada to keep the country in constant bleed.
Blocking development: Torpedoing major projects—including Russian investment offers and national development schemes—unless bribes were paid, and shaking down investors.
Politicizing the army and security: Turning them into personal instruments and sidelining national professionals.

Alliance with the Zionist Enemy

Israeli arms: Weapons reached his forces during the Saada wars in coordination with Washington and Riyadh.
The 2017 Sedition Plot: A bid to ignite internal strife on the eve of the Mawlid celebration—backed by the U.S. and Zionists—that ended with his demise after publicly calling for normalization with the enemy.
The project today: The remnants of “December 2” and Tareq Afash—backed by Saudi and Emirati money—are moving to revive the betrayal scenario, exploiting living conditions to distract the people from the Gaza front.

Warnings from Leadership… and a People Who See Clearly

Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi has warned against any move to pull Yemen away from the Gaza battle, affirming that security services hold evidence linking such activity to the U.S.–Zionist blueprint.

Yemenis, with their accumulated awareness, know that today’s “Afashis” are the natural extension of the betrayal project—mere tools in the enemy’s hands, just as their greater “Afash” was before them.

That’s why millions march weekly in support of Palestine, chanting: “O Gaza, O Palestine—all Yemenis are with you,” refusing to fall for betrayal again.

A Battle of Consciousness and Sovereignty that Admits No Neutrality

Three decades of Afash’s rule were enough to wreck the state, loot its wealth, and entrench normalization. Today, the betrayal project, through its remaining instruments, is trying to drag the country back to the era of guardianship and subservience to the American-Saudi enemy—replaying the Afash script under Saudi-Emirati sponsorship. But the people’s awareness and their unwavering stand with Palestine form a solid wall against herding Yemen back into the American-Saudi pen.

This is not a passing political tussle; it is an existential struggle whose title is: reclaiming sovereign decision-making, foiling the betrayal project, and holding fast to the Axis of Resistance in support of Gaza and all the oppressed—confronting the powers of arrogance until victory and a manifest opening.