Local Editor
The UK government does not believe that Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign in Yemen violates international law, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said, defending the UK’s arms sales to Riyadh and expressing support for the Arab kingdom.
"So far, we do not believe that there has been a clear risk of a breach of the international humanitarian law," Johnson told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, referring to the Saudi actions in Yemen and adding: "At the moment, we do not think the threshold has been crossed."
The foreign secretary then reaffirmed the British allegiance to the Arab kingdom by saying that the UK is "supportive" of Saudi Arabia and has a "longstanding partnership" with it, as he defended the British government’s policy of selling weapons to the Arab country.
He went on to say that the actions of Saudi Arabia are justified and even supported by the UN. "There is a campaign supported by the Arab League, by a vast coalition, supported by the UN to move Houthis out of Sanaa and restore the legitimate government," Johnson said.
However, the UN has blamed the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s airstrikes for the majority of civilian deaths in the Yemeni conflict, and called for an international investigation in August, citing allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Yemen.
A report released by the Yemen Data Project in September concluded that one-third of Saudi airstrikes hit hospitals, schools, and other civilian targets across the country.
The Saudi led-coalition fighting in Yemen has been accused of numerous airstrikes against civilian targets that have resulted in heavy casualties. On November 23, 12 civilians were killed by a Saudi-led airstrike while riding in a pick-up truck in northwest Yemen.
Two months earlier, 135 civilians were killed by a reported. Saudi-led airstrike at a wedding in the southwestern village of Al-Wahijah, although the Saudi-led coalition denied responsibility for the attack.
In late October, at least 60 people, including prison inmates, were killed in another Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a prison in the port city of Hodeidah. Earlier the same month, the Saudis bombed a funeral attended by over 1,000 mourners, killing at least 110 people and wounding 610 others.
Human Rights Watch accused the Saudi-led coalition of war crimes following the early October incident.
"Serious violations of the laws of war committed willfully - that is, intentionally or recklessly - are war crimes. The date and place of the funeral ceremony... would have been publicly available," HRW said at that time.
Saudi Arabia began its deadly campaign against Yemen in late March 2015. The strikes were meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
About 11,400 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured since Riyadh launched the airstrikes. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
