The role of the West in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen (More lethal than Russia in Syria)

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More lethal than Russia in Syria

The role of the West in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen

Jul 26th 2016 | Middle East and Africa

A lucrative, devastating war

NINETY years ago, Britain’s planes bombed unruly tribes in the Arabian peninsula to firm up the rule of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of the Saudi state. Times have changed but little. Together with America and France, Britain is now supplying, arming and servicing hundreds of Saudi planes engaged in the aerial bombardment of Yemen.

Though it has attracted little public attention or parliamentary oversight, the scale of the campaign surpasses Russia’s in Syria, analysts monitoring both conflicts note. With their governments’ approval, Western arms companies provide the intelligence, logistical support and air-to-air refuelling to fly far more daily sorties than Russia can muster.

There are differences. Russian pilots fly combat missions in Syria, whereas Western pilots do not fly combat missions on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Nor are their governments formal members of the battling coalition. Their presence, including in Riyadh’s operations room, and their precision-guided weaponry, should ensure that the rules of war that protect civilians are upheld, insist Western officials. But a series of recently-published field studies question this. Air strikes were responsible for more than half the thousands of civilian deaths in the 16-month campaign, Amnesty International reported in May. It found evidence that British cluster bombs had been used. Together with other watchdogs, including the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, it has documented the use of Western weaponry to hit scores of Yemeni markets, medical centres, warehouses, factories and mosques. One analyst alleges Western complicity in war crimes.

The war in Yemen has certainly been lucrative. Since the bombardment began in March 2015, Saudi Arabia has spent £2.8 billion on British arms, making it Britain’s largest arms market, according to government figures analysed by Campaign Against Arms Trade. America supplies even more....

Read more:
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-africa/21702651-lucrative-devastating-war-role-west-saudi-arabiau2019s-war

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1. And people wonder why some are still very upset about the wars we are involved with....