Alwaght- Morocco has reportedly decided to withdraw it warplanes out of a Saudi Arabia-led coalition, which has been attacking Yemen for more than three years now.
The coalition includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Sudan. Qatar withdrew from the coalition in June amid a diplomatic rift with Riyadh, Manama, and Abu Dhabi.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the Saudi-led war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured during the past three years.
The United Nations says a record 22.2 million people are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. A high-ranking UN aid official recently warned against the “catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating that there was a growing risk of famine and cholera there.
According to a report by The North Africa Post, the US-supplied F16 warplanes to Morocco are to be repatriated as the country’s army has been placed on high alert over heightened militancy in Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front militants aim to end Morocco’s rule in the Saharan region. They recently said they sought to set up a “capital” in the region, prompting Rabat to caution it would respond with force.
The announcement violates a 1991 United Nations-brokered truce between the militants and Moroccan forces. In line with the agreement, the final status of the disputed territory is to be decided by a referendum, which has never gone underway.
Moroccan media have, meanwhile, been speculating about future airstrikes by the military to contain the militancy.
The news about the upcoming withdrawal of the warplanes from the coalition came as anti-war and rights groups around the world are urging the United States and its allies to stop their arms sales to the countries waging the war on Yemen.
