Saudi Arabia kills Yemeni civilians, David Cameron helps

This video says about itself:

Yemen: Airstrike hits centre for the blind in Sanaa as Saudi-led bombing continues

5 January 2016

A centre for the blind was hit by an airstrike in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, Tuesday, as the Saudi-led coalition continues to attack Houthi-held areas in the conflict-stricken country.

The centre was heavily damaged, forcing those using the facilities, the majority of whom live with severely impaired vision, to evacuate the building.

By Lamiat Sabin in Britain:

Cameron tries to hide Brit role in Yemen slaughter

Thursday 28th January 2016

DAVID CAMERON claimed yesterday that Britain had the toughest arms trading rules in the world after a UN report revealed Saudi war crimes in its blitz on Yemen using British-made weapons.

The leaked report found that forces from countries including UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar had undertaken “widespread and systematic attacks” on civilians which violated international humanitarian law.

The Prime Minister insisted that the British military was not “directly involved” in the Saudi-led coalition that is backing the ousted Yemeni government against Houthi rebels.

But Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the Commons this month that British personnel were helping the Saudis identify targets for bombing, adding: “So far, in every case, our people on the ground have reported that there is no evidence of deliberate breach of international humanitarian law.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn raised the “very disturbing” report during Prime Minister’s Questions.

He urged Mr Cameron to launch an immediate inquiry and full review of arms export licences to Saudi Arabia, Britain’s biggest buyer of weaponry and aircraft, saying that arms sales should be suspended until the review was complete.

Mr Cameron replied: “We have the strictest rules for arms exports in almost any country anywhere in the world.” …

Nonetheless, Mr Corbyn and shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn again requested the review in a letter to the PM.

“Any perceived failure to do so will seriously undermine Britain in the eyes of the world,” they wrote.

According to the report, bombs have hit refugee camps, residential areas, medical facilities, schools, mosques, weddings, buses, markets, factories, food warehouses, the airport in the capital Sanaa, a port and domestic transit routes.

The paper attributed 60 per cent of civilian deaths in the war so far — around 2,682 — to air strikes.

Saudi Arabia has spent £2.8bn on British arms since it started bombing Yemen in March 2015, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).

“These arms sales should never have been approved in the first place,” said CAAT’s Andrew Smith.

See also here.

British arms companies ramp up bomb sales to Saudi Arabia by 100 times despite air strikes on civilians. The United Nations has said Saudi Arabia is disproportionately killing civilians in its military operation in Yemen: here.

Fighting in Yemen after rebels overthrew the government in early 2015 has created a dire humanitarian situation unparalleled even in places as battle-scarred as Syria, according to a Doctors Without Borders worker: here.

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