UK Arms Companies Ramp Up Bomb Sales To Saudi Arabia By 100 Times Despite Air Strikes On Yemen Civil

[Purveyor]

UK arms companies ramp up bomb sales to Saudi Arabia by 100 times despite air strikes on Yemen civilians

Sales of British bombs and missiles to the Saudi Arabia surged to over £1bn just three months last year, according to an official record of arms export licences quietly released by the Government this week.

The sales, up from just £9m in the preceding three-month period, have occurred while the oil-rich autocracy conducts a military campaign in its neighbour’s territory, where the United Nations has said a “humanitarian catastrophe” is unfolding.

Saudi Arabia is intervening in Yemen to fight Houthi rebels, who control the country’s capital but are not internationally recognised as its government. The Kingdom was asked to join the conflict by the country’s Government, which has been pushed out of much of the country’s heartland.

Criticism of the Saudi military operation have however included the bombing of multiple hospitals run by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières and the deaths of thousands of civilians, including 130 at a single wedding.

While international observers have recognised abuses on all sides, in late December UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein said that a “disproportionate” number of attacks of civilians in Yemen had come from the Saudi-led invasion force.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/uk-arms-companies-ramp-up-bomb-sales-to-saudi-arabia-by-100-times-despite-air-strikes-on-yemen-civilians-34382092.html

[ronnie624]

1. If we weren't selling them, someone else would be.

Might as well make some money, eh?