British newspapers make major revelations on the use of British arms in Yemen
The British ‘Observer’ newspaper has recently claimed that the ‘Raytheon’ factories in Britain have started to produce smart bombs for sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The British government is set to make vast profits from the sale of such weapons, with several orders already being placed by the KSA; since 2015 the price of these orders is thought to have reached a sum of 3.5 billion pounds Stirling.
The Observer goes on to note that the Saudi military has used such bombs in the shelling of civilian residential neighbourhoods in Yemen. The KSA remains the largest importer of British arms in the world, and its recent intensive expansion of its military seems to be aimed at assisting in its war against the Houthis in Yemen.
In keeping with this, Human Rights Watch has found that many of the weapons used in the Yemeni war seem to have been manufactured in Britain. Other major buyers of British weaponry in the region include Turkey, who recently bought 450 million pounds worth of weaponry, and Egypt, buying 116 million pounds worth of military equipment.
These large contracts have drawn domestic criticism, with the Deputy of the Scottish parliament calling for an end to sales to the KSA on Sunday – the call came at the conclusion of the International Conference on crimes in Yemen, held in London that evening.
