(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Saudi Arabia has finally admitted that it used UK-manufactured cluster bombs against Houthi fighters in Yemen, increasing pressure on the British government which has repeatedly refused to curb arms sales to Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia said it would cease to use UK-manufactured cluster bombs and that it had informed the UK government of this decision.
“It has become apparent that there was limited use by the coalition of the UK-manufactured BL755 cluster munitions in Yemen,” said a spokesman for the Saudi forces in Yemen, Ahmed al-Asiri, on Monday.
He went on to claim that the bombs were only used against legitimate military targets and that the kingdom was not part of the convention banning the use of such munitions.
“Some states have undertaken a commitment to refrain from using cluster munitions by becoming party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither Saudi Arabia nor its coalition partners are state parties to the 2008 convention, and accordingly, the coalition’s use of cluster munitions does not violate the obligations of these states under international law,” he said.
He noted that Riyadh has decided to stop the use of cluster bombs and that it has informed the British government of its decision.
The Saudis' announcement came after a British Defense Ministry inquiry showed that Riyadh had used UK-supplied cluster bombs in Yemen.
Earlier this month, Yemen’s Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtoor accused Britain of committing war crimes.
“They have sold cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia,” the new premier told Sky News. “They know the Saudis are going to drop them on Yemen ... in Sa’ada and in Sana’a and other provinces. I don’t think they are guilty of war crimes, I believe so. They are participating in the bombing of Yemen’s people.”
Andrew Smith, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “The use of UK cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia is characteristic of a brutal war and a brutal regime. If Saudi forces are prepared to use cluster bombs, then why is the UK continuing to arm and support the regime?
“Once a weapon has left these shores, there’s little if any control over where and when it will be used and who it will be used against. The UK must act now to stop the arms sales and to end its complicity in the humanitarian catastrophe that has been unleashed on the Yemeni people.”
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20 December 2016 - 04:45
News ID: 799446
Saudi Arabia has finally admitted that it used UK-manufactured cluster bombs against Houthi fighters in Yemen, increasing pressure on the British government which has repeatedly refused to curb arms sales to Riyadh.
