Yemeni security forces have arrested 13 alleged members of a Houthi cell and seized a lorry carrying weapons, ammunition and explosives smuggled by sea into Shabwa province, the governor’s office said on Sunday.
Shabwa Governor Awad Al Wazir, who also heads the provincial security committee, said the operation followed surveillance and intelligence-gathering efforts as fighting rages between the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Houthis.
Preliminary investigations found the weapons had been transported by boat and handed over to the cell’s members along the southern Yemeni coast. The shipment was due to be moved for the benefit of the Iran-aligned Houthis, according to a report submitted to the governor.
The seized cargo included sniper rifles, ammunition, improvised explosive devices described by the authorities as highly destructive and various types of projectiles.
Investigations are continuing to establish the circumstances of the smuggling operation, identify its wider network and determine who else was involved, the report said.
The seizure came days after a Houthi ballistic missile attack against members of the Rapid Intervention Forces in Shabwa that, according to the governor’s office, killed 77 people and wounded 195.
The Houthis acknowledged the attack, describing it as a concentration of “Saudi enemy” forces managed by Saudi officers. The Iran-backed group claimed Saudi personnel were among dozens of people killed or wounded. Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Al Wazir called on security and military units to increase readiness, strengthen surveillance and inspections along land and maritime routes, and improve co-ordination and intelligence-sharing to prevent further smuggling and infiltration attempts.
The Houthis have recently attacked government-held sites, including Aden airport and the presidential palace in the interim capital. A missile and drone attack on the palace killed five security personnel.
Yemeni government forces launched a campaign this month to recapture Houthi-held areas, making advances near the strategic Bab Al Mandeb strait, while the rebels continue to besiege Taiz, a major stronghold of anti-Houthi forces in the southern highlands.
Shabwa, an energy-rich province on Yemen’s southern coast, is home to the Balhaf liquefied natural gas site, the country’s largest industrial investment.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led military intervention followed in 2015 at the government’s request. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 maintained a fragile calm until fighting intensified again this year.
The conflict has become another front in the wider US-Israeli war against Iran, with the Houthis escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter. Yemen is already experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, and renewed fighting threatens to further worsen conditions for civilians.