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Ammar Saleh

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Yemeni intelligence official

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Ammar Saleh
عمار صالح
Chief of Intelligence of the National Resistance Forces
Incumbent
Assumed office
c. 2017
President
LeaderTareq Saleh
Military attaché to the Embassy of Yemen, Addis Ababa
In office
10 April 2013 (2013-04-10) – 5 June 2015 (2015-06-05)
PresidentAbdrabbuh Mansour Hadi
Deputy Director of the National Security Bureau
In office
c. 2002 (2002) – 21 May 2012 (2012-05-21)
President
DirectorAli Mohammed al-Anisi
Personal details
ParentMohammed Abdullah Saleh (father)
RelativesSaleh family
Military service
Allegiance

Ammar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh[a] is a Yemeni intelligence official who is chief of intelligence in the National Resistance Forces, a paramilitary group allied to the internationally recognized government of Yemen. A nephew of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, he was the deputy director of the National Security Bureau from its inception in 2002 until 2012, but was regarded as the de facto director.

Biography

Ammar is the son of Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, former commander of the Central Security Forces and brother of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled over Yemen for years as President. He is the brother of Yahya and Tareq, each of whom held high-ranking positions in the security apparatus of the Saleh regime.[1]

National Security Bureau

Ammar was appointed deputy director of the National Security Bureau (NSB) upon its formation in 2002.[2] The intelligence agency was established to provide Western counterparts with a "more professional counterterrorism partner" than the Political Security Organization, which was perceived as corrupt and compromised with Islamists.[3][4] Although he officially worked under director Ali Mohammed al-Anisi, Ammar was effectively the de facto head of the NSB and reported directly to the president.[5][6] The NSB was notorious for torture and suppressing political opposition to the regime,[4] and was employed with Ammar's tribal and familial relatives to ensure loyalty.[3]

The NSB contributed to the counterterrorism campaign against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Ammar personally coordinated an operation in Marib against an AQAP cell in July 2009, but it was bungled by security forces and ended in him negotiating for the release of captured soldiers.[7][8] Alongside the Central Intelligence Agency and MI6, the NSB coordinated drone strike launched by the United States against AQAP, Ammar being required to personally grant his permission before they took place.[3] According to HOOD, a Yemeni human rights group, the NSB was involved in detaining hundreds of terrorism suspects for years, often without charges. Ammar said the government would welcome the repatriation of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay, but would not imprison them without access to evidence from the United States.[9]

Yemeni revolution and Hadi administration

The Yemeni revolution posed a threat to the regime and the "young guard" of the Saleh family, including Ammar.[2] The NSB was involved in dispersing protesters during the revolution.[5] According to the Foreign Policy Association, in the aftermath of the massacre of protestors in Sanaa on 18 March 2011 much of the backlash was directed at Ammar and other Saleh relatives in the security apparatus.[10] Pro-opposition tribal figure Himyar Abdullah al-Ahmar accused him of supervising an alleged NSB plot to assassinate opposition figures including Hamid al-Ahmar.[11] Laura Kasinof, then a correspondent for The New York Times, claimed Ammar admitted to her during a conversation that the NSB was using sound bombs to intimidate protestors. She said Ammar and others within the regime perceived the protests as a side issue relative to the intensified power struggle between them and the powerful al-Ahmar tribe.[4]

Saleh eventually stepped down as president in February 2012, being succeeded by Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. However, he maintained loyalty among some high-ranking officials in the government, such as Ammar, who were intent on undermining the Hadi administration.[12] After a major terrorist attack in Sanaa on 21 May, in which an AQAP suicide bomber infiltrated a military parade rehearsal, Ammar was dismissed from the position of NSB deputy director by Hadi.[13] The handover to his successor, Mohammed Jameh al-Khadar, took place the same day without issue.[14] Alongside other former officials, Ammar received a government position overseas as the military attaché to Ethiopia on 10 April 2013.[15]

Yemeni civil war

In December 2014, Arabi21 reported that Ammar was involved in the capture of Sanaa by the Houthis two months earlier, which instigated the Yemeni civil war. The newspaper claimed that through his lingering connections in the NSB, he was coordinating with Saleh loyalists in the security forces as well as the Houthis from his home in Sanaa, and directed the capture of security and military installations in Sanaa and raids on the homes of Islah figures.[16] In an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, activist Tawakkol Karman corroborated these claims and accused Ammar of having ordered a raid on her house by the Houthis during the capture.[17] According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Ammar fled Yemen to Addis Ababa on 31 May 2015, after the homes of various members of the Saleh family were targeted by airstrikes.

On 5 June 2015, Al Jazeera premiered an interview with Hani Mujahid, who claimed to have been a former al-Qaeda informant for the NSB managed directly by Ammar. He accused the former regime of having collaborated with al-Qaeda, and Ammar specifically of using him as a courier to funnel money to al-Qaeda as well as explosives used in an attack on the United States embassy in 2008. He also claimed that AQAP leader Qasim al-Raymi was working in coordination with Ammar.[18] The day the film was released, Ammar was dismissed from the military and his role as attaché by a presidential decree and was referred to trial. Ammar then fled Ethiopia to the United Arab Emirates to avoid arrest.[19] The Saudi-led coalition launched an airstrike on his home in Sanaa on 6 July, after which he released a statement vowing retaliation.[20]

In 2020, the Houthis accused Ammar of having participated in a secret program to destroy Yemen's air defense systems during his NSB tenure, allegedly bribing military officials to go through with sabotage at the behest of Saleh and the US.[21] He was tried in absentia by a Houthi court and sentenced to death in 2022. In May 2024, they claimed Ammar was in charge of a dismantled espionage cell aiding the US and the UK in their attacks on Houthi-controlled Yemen as well as Israel.[22] Since 2017, Ammar was believed to have resurfaced in Yemen's political scene, serving as the head of the intelligence of division of the National Resistance Forces, a pro-government group led by his brother Tareq and linked to the UAE.[23][24][25]

Notes

  1. ^ Arabic: عمار محمد عبد الله صالح

References

  1. ^ أقارب المخلوع صالح: الإقالة في مرحلتها الثانية [Relatives of the ousted Saleh: the dismissal is in its second stage]. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed (in Arabic). 4 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 September 2025. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  2. ^ a b Paris, Gilles (3 June 2011). "Yémen: le clan Saleh mis en cause" [Yemen: The Saleh clan implicated]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b c de Graaff, Bob (2020). Intelligence Communities and Cultures in Asia and the Middle East: A Comprehensive Reference. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 453–456. ISBN 9781626378957. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Kasinof, Laura (1 March 2016). Don't Be Afraid of the Bullets: An Accidental War Correspondent in Yemen. Skyhorse Publishing. pp. 238–241. ISBN 9781628726480. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b "Days of Bloodshed in Aden". Human Rights Watch. 9 March 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Who Will Inherit Saleh's Political Legacy and Revenge?". Asharq Al-Awsat. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  7. ^ Scahill, Jeremy (2013). Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield. Nation Books. pp. 262–263. ISBN 9781568587271. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  8. ^ Johnsen, Gregory D. (8 September 2009). "The Expansion Strategy of Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula". Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  9. ^ Tayler, Letta (30 March 2009). "You Can't Go Home (to Yemen) Again". Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  10. ^ "Darkness Descends On A Nation". Foreign Policy Association. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  11. ^ Arrabyee, Nasser (15 September 2018). "Intrigue, political drama behind the scenes in Yemen". Gulf News. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  12. ^ Al Hammadi, Khaled (19 April 2012). "Saleh's death grip pulls Yemen's army into enemy camps". The National. Archived from the original on 12 April 2026. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  13. ^ Almasmari, Hakim (21 May 2012). "Huge suicide blast kills more than 100 troops in Yemen". CNN. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  14. ^ "انتهاء عملية التسليم والاستلام بين عمار محمد والوكيل الجديد بجهاز الأمن القومي" انتهاء عملية التسليم والاستلام بين عمار محمد والوكيل الجديد بجهاز الأمن القومي [The handover process between Ammar Mohammed and the new agent at the National Security Agency has been completed]. Mareb Press (in Arabic). 22 May 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  15. ^ Carlino, Ludovico (2 May 2013). "Yemen's Military Reforms May Not Hold the Answer to Internal Stability Questions". Terrorism Monitor. Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  16. ^ "Sources told Arabi21: Ammar Saleh orchestrated the fall of Sana'a from his home". Arabi21 (in Arabic). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  17. ^ Azzam, Mohammad (2 December 2014). "Tawakkol Karman to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: A revolutionary wave is coming to Yemen". Al-Araby Al-Jadeed (in Arabic). Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  18. ^ Swisher, Clayton (16 June 2015). "Is Yemen's new al-Qaeda leader compromised?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  19. ^ "Yemen: Exposing Saleh's management of al-Qaeda will contribute to the demise of his political future". Al-Quds Al-Arabi (in Arabic). 13 June 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  20. ^ "From the UAE, Ammar Saleh vows to retaliate against Saudi Arabia in kind". Arabi21 (in Arabic). 7 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  21. ^ "Report: US behind destruction of Yemen's air defences before Saudi war". Middle East Monitor. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  22. ^ Al-Batati, Saeed (7 May 2024). "UK marine agency reports two explosions in Gulf of Aden". Arab News. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  23. ^ "Houthis Launch a Campaign to Pursue Loyalists of the Former Yemeni President". Yemen Monitor. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  24. ^ "The Emirati Unit (T) (2/3).. Ammar Saleh and special forces: Secret documents reveal Abu Dhabi's operations in Taiz and the western coast (exclusive)". Yemen Monitor (in Arabic). 31 August 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  25. ^ "National Resistance Forces: Capabilities, Stages of Formation, Organizational Nature, Deployment Map". Defenseliney (in Arabic). 30 April 2025. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
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