Britain's Worst Kept Secret: The Yemen War

From March 2015 to July 2019, 100,000 people have been killed as a result of military action in Yemen according to the Yemen Data Project and ACLED, the Armed Conflict Locations and Events Data project. A total of 80% of the Yemeni population - more than 24 million people - are in desperate need of assistance and protection, 10 millions of whom rely on food aid to survive. However, the British public are rarely shown images of all the Yemeni children suffering from malnutrition and untreated wounds. Indeed, this is no coincidence. Many of us are unaware that Britain, alongside France, and the US are supplying weapons to the Saudi-led coalition, which is responsible for the highest number of civilian deaths reported in the Yemen War.

Like most wars, the one in Yemen boils down to political tensions. In 2011, there was a string of pro-democratic protests referred to as the "Arab Spring" which led to the forced transfer of power from the long-serving President, Ali Abdullah Saleh to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. The move was expected to bring stability and change to Yemen, but instead it fomented violence by various groups, in particular the Houthi rebels from the North. The Houthis are a group of Shia Muslims who supported Saleh. Houthi forces took control of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, in 2015, causing Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.

Unsettled by the rise of a group believed to be backed by Shia country Iran, Saudi Arabia and eight others mostly Sunni Arab states formed a coalition purposing to end Iranian influence in Yemen and restoring Hadi's government. Adopting a dangerous 'the end justifies the means' mentality, the Saudi-led coalition has carried out over 21,400 air strikes in Yemen up to the end of July 2020. Of these, 30% were directly targeted towards civilians, innocent men, women, and children whose only fault was simply to exist. What's terrifying is that Britain and other world leading countries such as France, and the US enable such disregard towards human life by supplying the Saudi-led coalition with lethal weapons.

On August 9 2018, a bomb was dropped on a school bus in Dayhan, Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition. The children were on a field trip to visit the shrines of local heroes, the bodies of 29 were retrieved by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The remains of a laser-guided bomb produced by the US aerospace and defence company, Lockheed Martin, were found near the scene of the attack, a tragic symbol of US-British involvement in the war.

On April 22 2018, at 10 pm another US-made bomb was dropped on dancing guests in a wedding at the village of Al-Raga, killing 21 people, including 11 children and injuring 97. Amongst the 200 present, was 20-year-old shepherd Yahya Al-Muasbi who described the attack as "The Day of Judgement". These are only two examples among many civilian attacks. Let there be no further examples.

In June 2019, the UK Court of Appeal found the British government's arms export policy towards the Saudi-led coalition to be unlawful, having failed to properly assess Saudi violations of international human law. The Court prohibited the British government from issuing new arms licenses to Saudi Arabia and urged it to reflect upon past its actions. Much to the humanitarian's despair, the UK cooperated until July 2020, when the government announced a revival of its arms deal with the Saudi-led coalition, saying that Saudi violations of international law were "isolated incidents". As a nation who prides itself on upholding fundamental human rights, the continuance of the UK's involvement in the atrocities committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen makes a mockery of British foreign policy.

British diplomats endeavour to justify the government's sale of arms to the Saudis through the alleged sway it holds over Saudi Arabia's military strategy in Yemen. Nonetheless, five years have gone by since the beginning of conflict in Yemen and there still appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Fighting this year alone has displaced 250,000 people. The UK's endeavour to occupy the role of both the devil and the angel on the shoulder of Saudi Arabia clearly isn't working. It is time the United Kingdom changed their approach and take a stance. How many more lives need to be unduly sacrificed before the UK stop their arms deal with Saudi Arabia and help put an end to this horror?

What is certain is that, with the backing of influential nations such as the UK and the US, the Saudi-led coalition will not feel the urgency to modify their conduct. It is also evident from their utter dismissal of the UK Court of Appeal's ruling that the government plans to do nothing about the situation at hand in Yemen. However, we mustn't let this abomination of humanity persist. By supporting movements such as the CAAT, Campaign Against Arms Trade, aimed to ending the UK-Saudi Arabia arms deal, we can raise awareness of British involvement in Yemen and join in the fight to end the conflict and protect our fellowmen.