The Guardian: Britain sold more than 15 billion pounds to Saudi Arabia during the Yemen war

London,(ST)- A report of the British Guardian newspaper revealed that the British company “BAE Systems” sold weapons to the Saudi regime for more than 15 billion pounds during the aggression against Yemen, stressing that the sales took place during the period in which the Saudi regime launched lethal bombings on Yemeni cities.

The report indicates that sales took place over five years, the period during which the kingdom was involved in fatal bombing operations in Yemen. The report adds that the activists analyzed the annual government report of the sales of the leading British company in the arms industry to reveal that it had managed to collect revenues exceeding 2.5 billion pounds of arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the past year only, so that the return on exports to Saudi Arabia between 2015 and 2019 will rise to about 15 Billion pounds, an annual increase of about 17.3%.

Since the war in Yemen began in March 2015, thousands of civilians have been killed, as the Saudi-led coalition launched indiscriminate bombing campaigns, after obtaining weapons from BAE Systems and other Western companies. The Saudi Air Force has been held responsible for the deaths of up to 12 thousand and six hundred people in attacks targeting them. ”

International human rights organizations strongly criticized the continuation of many countries including the United States, Britain and France in supplying weapons to the Saudi-led coalition in its aggression against Yemen since 2015, committing countless massacres against civilians, especially children and women, in its daily raids and its bombing of populated areas and the use of suffocating siege as a means of pressure.

Haifaa Mafalani