Both U.S. and U.K. Continue to Sell Weapons to Saudi Arabia

YemenExtra

SH.A.

A new international report shows that U.S. and U.K. made weapons killed nearly 1,000 civilians by Saudi/UAE-led Coalition attacks in Yemen.

The 128-page investigation, named “Day of Judgment,” was released Wednesday, and covers 27 airstrikes launched in Yemen by the Saudi-led Coalition between April 2015 and April 2018. Their findings show that in nearly all attacks U.S. or U.K. made missiles and bombs were used, killing at least 203 people and injuring nearly 750, including over 120 children and at least 56 women.

The report states that many of the attacks took place far from any potential military target and “in no case did it appear that Coalition forces took adequate precautions to minimize harm to civilians, as required by international humanitarian law.” Multiple human rights organizations, including the U.N., have denounced internationally such violations on civilian population and infrastructure.

“I was still awake. I was sitting in a chair because I was afraid of the planes flying overhead and making a very loud noise. Then they dropped a bomb near us and afterward they hit our neighborhood with three bombs. After that I lost consciousness,” is the testimony of Ahmad Mansour, 10 years old, wounded in 2016.

Dubbed as the “Forgotten War,” the Yemeni war started on March 26, 2015, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led a coalition of countries in a military campaign against Ansar Allah (Houthis) in Yemen in support of the Saudi-backed fugitive government of Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi.

“While precise figures are lacking, an estimated 50,000 people have been killed as a direct effect of the war and 85,000 children may have died of hunger and preventable diseases,” General Director of Pax International, Jan Gruiters, said.

Despite this, both the U.S. and U.K. continue to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in violation of domestic and international law, including the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty and the EU Common Position on Arms Export Controls.

On Feb. 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to rescind military support for the war in Yemen.

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