Alwaght-The British government has been condemned for supporting the Saudi-led military aggression on Yemen through sale of weapons used against civilians in the impoverished country.
Former Tory cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell told the Telegraph: “Britain’s humanitarian and foreign policy are pursuing different ends.”
“The Yemenis are being pulverized by the Saudis while we try to get aid in through ports which are being blockaded and while British ordnance is being dropped there.”
In September Oxfam aid agency called the situation in Yemen “a humanitarian disaster,” and accused the Britain of exacerbating the crisis by continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Since Yemen’s war began, Britain has granted the Saudis at least 37 export licenses for military goods.
Tim Cross, a retired Major General, said: “The UK is of course well within its rights to sell arms to Saudi Arabia when in line with international and domestic legal frameworks.
“But there is a clear risk that the government is complicit in indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas – breaches of international and UK law. How our ally is using British arms runs counter to our self-proclaimed role in the world, and our aid efforts.”
Amnesty International said last week that, in the cases of the five Saudi attacks on Yemeni schools that it had investigated, none had been used for military purposes.
Last month, Human Rights Watch said that a British made cruise missile was used in an attack on a Yemeni ceramics factory which killed at least one civilian and injured several more, including a teenage girl.
The new wave of criticism comes on the eve of UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland. Ahead of the UN talks, Labour's shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn called on the Government to rethink its arms deals with the Saudi regime.
He said: “The humanitarian situation in Yemen is increasingly desperate, with many civilians being killed by airstrikes and reports of potential breaches of international humanitarian law by the Saudi military, which involve the use of British supplied weapons."
Over 7,600 have been killed during the Saudi-led airstrikes which began late March Yemen with over 16,000 injured. Most of the casualties are civilians especially women, children and the elderly.
The illegal war has inflicted damages on hundreds of important installations in the civilian infrastructure including hospitals, schools, mosques, residential quarters, water reservoirs etc.
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In Focus
Ansarullah
A Zaidi Shiite movement operating in Yemen. It seeks to establish a democratic government in Yemen.
Shiite
represents the second largest denomination of Islam. Shiites believe Ali (peace be upon him) to be prophet"s successor in the Caliphate.
Resistance
Axis of Resistances refers to countries and movements with common political goal, i.e., resisting against Zionist regime, America and other western powers. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Palestine are considered as the Axis of Resistance.
Persian Gulf Cooperation Council
A regional political u n i o n consisting of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq.
Taliban
Taliban is a Sunni fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan. It was founded by Mohammed Omar in 1994.
Wahhabism & Extremism
Wahhabism is an extremist pseudo-Sunni movement, which labels non-Wahhabi Muslims as apostates thus paving the way for their bloodshed.
Kurds
Kurds are an ethnic group in the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region, which spans adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are an Iranian people and speak the Kurdish languages, which form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian branch of Iranian languages.
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.
Islamic Awakening
Refers to a revival of the Islam throughout the world, that began in 1979 by Iranian Revolution that established an Islamic republic.
Al-Qaeda
A militant Sunni organization founded by Osama bin Laden at some point between 1988 and 1989
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