SANAA, Jan. 21 (Saba) -Weapons made in Western countries have been extensively used in Saudi-led combat operations in Yemen, including in civilian areas, according to secret French military documents revealed by a French-led team .
France’s military intelligence agency, the DRM, submitted documents detailing French-made military equipment deployed in the Yemen conflict in a 15-page report to the French executive .
The documents contain lists of French-manufactured tanks, armoured vehicles, fighter jets, helicopters, howitzers, ammunition and radar systems sold to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partner, the United Arab Emirates, which are supporting military operations against Yemeni Civilians.
US investigative site says the report highlights the Saudi coalition’s dependence on weapons systems provided by Nato members, citing the deployment of weapons, aircraft and ships from the United States, Britain, Germany as well as France.
France, the United States and other Western countries have faced criticism over arms sales to Saudi Arabia and its partners over consequences for a conflict that has affected 28 million people and caused what the United Nations calls “one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world”.
In addition to weapons from France, Britain and the US, the report mentions military equipment from Sweden, Austria, South Korea, Italy and Brazil.
Prime Minister Dr. Abdulaziz bin Habtoor affirmed that the deadly American, British and French weapons were used by the US-of aggression against Yemeni civilians.
During the graduation of the third founding training course in the field of demining, the Prime Minister said: With the circumstances of the US-Saudi aggression against Yemen that started in March 2015, we saw deadly US, British, French and other weapons were used against civilians.
He added: Among the deadly weapons is the presence of cluster bombs, which are scattered along large areas and killed of children, women and citizens, including farmers, herders and passers-by.
Bin Habtoor pointed out that work is continuing to monitor the tragic consequences of citizens as a result of cluster bombs, despite the major problems in monitoring and documentation.
For his part, the head of the National Mine Action Center, Engineer Ali Safra, pointed out that the US-Saudi aggression is holding the equipment for the center's work, saying: The special equipment for our field work are still being held in Djibouti by the countries of the aggression coalition.
Safra explained that the remnants of aggression from deadly and cluster weapons fill the Yemeni streets and cities and every day we hear about the explosion of a cluster bomb with a child, woman or a Yemeni citizen.
Despite the slew of evidence that the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition has time and again committed serious violations of international law, including possible war crimes, the USA and other arms-supplying countries such as the UK and France remain unmoved by the pain and chaos their arms are wreaking on the civilian population.
Mona.M