Yemen, British and US-made weapons in hundreds of Saudi attacks that killed civilians

SANA’A (AsiaNews) – A new report published these days by Oxfam activists, entitled “Fueling Violence”, confirms once again the extensive use of weapons and bombs sold by the United States and the United Kingdom in Riyadh and used to target the civilian population in Yemen . The data collected by the NGO speak of hundreds of attacks launched by the Saudi-led Arab coalition against the Houthis, supported by Tehran, and which end up causing innocent victims.

A fragile truce and a lot of violence. A spiral of violence only partially contained by a fragile truce signed on April 2 last year, but which was not renewed on October 2 due to a lack of agreement on the payment of salaries of public officials in the territories controlled by the rebels. An agreement on which the envoys of the UN, the US and Oman are mediating. Just in these days a delegation from Muscat has arrived to try to relaunch the ceasefire between the parties and avert a further – and more substantial – bloodshed of civilians, even minors.

The report of the NGO OXFAM. He accuses London (and Washington) of fueling a renewed “climate of violence against civilians” in the Arab country through the sale and trade of arms to the Saudi-led coalition. Activists counted more than 1,700 attacks against the population between January 2021 and February 2022 – before the introduction of the truce – and of these at least a quarter were carried out using only US and British-made weapons. Over the reporting period, Oxfam says the coalition is responsible for at least 87 civilian deaths and another 136 injured, as well as 19 attacks on hospitals, clinics and ambulances; these are joined by 293 raids which have forced the civilian population to flee their homes. “The enormous number of attacks on civilians – says Martin Butcher, political consultant of the organization on arms and conflicts and author of the report – is a stark testimony to the terrible tragedy that the Yemeni people have suffered and are still suffering”. “Our analysis shows that there is a pattern of violence against civilians and all parties involved in the conflict – he adds – have not done enough to protect human lives”, which would be an obligation “under international and humanitarian law”.

At the origins of the conflict. The conflict flared up in 2014 as an internal clash between pro-Tehran Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabian-backed government officials; over the months it has escalated into open war with the intervention, in March 2015, of Riyadh at the head of a coalition of Arab nations and has recorded almost 400 thousand victims in recent years. According to the UN, it has caused the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world”, on which Covid-19 has had “devastating” effects; millions of people are on the verge of starvation and children – 11 thousand dead in the conflict – will suffer the consequences for decades. There are over three million internally displaced persons, most of whom live in conditions of extreme poverty, hunger and epidemics of various kinds, not least that of cholera.

The value of arms trade in Yemen is 30 billion. In the past, London has come under harsh criticism for its decision to continue arms sales to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns over human rights abuses. In this regard, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Caat) which, in courtrooms, challenges the arms trade and tries to limit its sales. A ruling by the British High Court is expected by the end of the month, while a previous judicial action (in 2019) obtained a suspension – but only temporarily – in the sale of arms, which was then resumed in 2021. According to some estimates by Caat experts, the real value of trade between the parties is almost 30 billion euros.

The reasons for such a long and frightening conflict. Yemen – beyond the almost exclusively “humanitarian” story that is made of it, among the civilians killed, the displaced, the rapes, the cholera – has great strategic importance, despite being in fact the poorest country in the Middle East . After all, it doesn’t take much to understand the crucial importance of this country: it is enough to take a look at the map, to give the right interpretation to the fact that jihadist groups such as Al Qaeda have had easy access and to the fact that the USA and Saudi Arabia together are there to protect their interests. In fact, Yemen is located at the furthest point of the Arabian Peninsula and before its eyes, every day, millions of tons of oil flow, millions of tons of goods, all in the context of an increasingly less silent conflict with Iran , which has the Houti as its military garrison in Yemen. In short, as we know, the destiny of a people is never separated from the geographical position in which its history, culture and economy are rooted. And Yemen does not enjoy a “friendly” geopolitical situation.