Sanaa (South24)

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Yesterday, Aden security forces revealed a vast terrorist plot, orchestrated from Houthi-controlled Sanaa, to carry out assassination operations against senior officials of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and its security and military forces.

Aden security authorities have released a video featuring confessions and newly uncovered video call conversations between the commander of the Yemeni government's Transport Brigade, Brigadier General Amjad Khaled, and terrorist cell member, Ali Al-Farawi, who was arrested on November 9th in the Dar Saad district in northern Aden. 

The conversations were recorded on the terrorist’s phone, which was confiscated for verification.

#BREAKING

Aden security revealed in audio and video the recruitment, planning and directing of the commander of the pro-government transportation brigade, Amjad Khaled, to carry out terrorist operations in Aden#south24 pic.twitter.com/bV3j98WZ7L

— South24 | English (@South24E) November 26, 2023

During the video calls, Brigadier General Amjad Khaled directed the assassination of the police chief of the Dar Saad district, Colonel Musleh Al-Dharhani, using an explosive device. The officer in charge of the investigation could be seen explaining during the confessions that the operation did not succeed. 

The confessions of Ali Al-Farawi, a soldier in the Transportation Brigade led by Amjad Khaled, included precise details about the planning of the operation. Al-Farawi described how he went to the Al-Turbah area in Taiz to retrieve a bag containing an explosive device to carry out the assassination attempt.

The confession of the arrested cell member (South24 screenshot)

Al-Farawi pointed out that Colonel Amjad Khaled went to the city of Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis, for several days before returning to the Al-Turbah area in Taiz governorate, which is under government forces control, from where he conducted his violent operations in Aden.

Related: Aden: Security Forces Arrest an Armed «Terrorist» Cell 

Al-Farawi said that after his return from Sanaa, Colonel Amjad Khaled told him about a large-scale assassination operation named “Cutting Wings”, which would take place in Aden and target the leaders of security units affiliated with the STC.

The list of targets included the Commander of the Security Belt Forces in Aden, Brigadier General Jalal Al-Rubaie, the Commander of the Presidential Storm Forces, Brigadier General Osan Al-Anshli, and the Commander of the Aden Security Emergency Forces, Brigadier General Muhammad Hussein Al-Khaili.

Related: Aden: Dead Bodies Found in a House of a Wanted Security Commander 

Al-Farawi revealed the readiness of Brigadier General Amjad Khaled and his loyalists to enter Aden again after the completion of Cutting Wings, as part of a new invasion being prepared by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.

In the video conversations, Brigadier General Amjad Khaled asked Al-Farawi to focus on the first-line leaders in the security units in Aden and later devote himself to the second-line leaders. “Young leaders are not a problem, they can be easily eliminated,” he said.

Al-Farawi explained that Brigadier General Amjad Khaled’s house in the city of Al-Turbah contains a small workshop for manufacturing and equipping explosive devices. He also described the presence of numerous armed men and four-wheel drive vehicles.

Brigadier General Amjad Khaled is able to move comfortably within areas controlled by government forces loyal to the Islamic Islah Party, according to the confessions.

The video recordings reinforce a broad list of charges leveled by Aden security against Brigadier General Amjad Khaled, which include the assassination of a number of prominent military and security leaders in Aden, and a series of deadly bombings that killed and wounded dozens of civilians.

Khaled is accused of orchestrating the March 2022 assassination of the former commander of the Al-Anad military axis, Major General Thabet Jawas, using a car bomb in northern Aden, and the October 2021 attempt to assassinate the Governor of Aden, Ahmed Lamlas, also with a car bomb.

He is also accused of being behind the detonation of a car bomb in front of the gate of Aden International Airport in October 2021, which caused the death of five civilians and the injury of 25, including children.

The security forces in Aden had previously published the confessions of several defendants linked to these operations, which confirmed that Brigadier General Amjad Khaled had been overseeing them using funding allocated by the Houthis. 

So far, the Yemeni Ministry of Interior or the Yemeni judiciary has not taken any measures against Brigadier General Amjad Khaled, even though he resides in the Al-Turbah area in Taiz, where government forces are deployed.

In previous statements, Khaled denied all the charges against him.