Arms supplied by US, UK killed civilians in Yemen, report finds

CAIRO — Weapons supplied by the United Kingdom and the United States and used by a Saudi-led coalition fighting in war-torn Yemen killed at least 87 civilians and wounded 136 others in just over a year, a new report said Wednesday.

The report by the Oxfam charity found that the Saudi-led coalition used weapons supplied solely by the U.K. and the U.S. in hundreds of attacks on civilians in Yemen between January 2021 and the end of February 2022. Britain is the second-biggest supplier of weapons to Saudi Arabia , after the U.S.

Yemen’s war began when the Iran-backed Houthis seized the country’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition — armed with U.S. and U.K. weaponry and intelligence — entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March 2015.

Oxfam’s report comes ahead of a legal challenge by the Campaign Against Arms Trade, a group of anti-weapons campaigners, against the U.K. government for supplying weapons used in Yemen’s war. The charity says it provides witness in support of the challenge.

Amnesty International activists march with homemade replica missiles bearing the message "Made in Britain, destroying lives in Yemen" across Westminster Bridge toward Downing Street during a protest over U.K. arms sales to Saudi Arabia in 2016 in London. (Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Responding to an inquiry by The Associated Press, a spokesperson for Britain’s Department for International Trade said it operates “one of the most robust and transparent export control regimes in the world.”

“We consider all our export applications thoroughly against a strict risk assessment framework and keep all licenses under careful and continual review as standard,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition was not immediately available for comment.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a Swedish think tank, tracks major arms transfer. Examples of deliveries or orders made for 2021, supplied by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, include GBU-39 guided bombs; Harpoon Block 2 anti-ship missiles; and Paveway guided bombs. The Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile is among the major weapons sold by the U.K. to Saudi Arabia.

The court battle by the anti-weapons campaigners is years old. The Court of Appeal in London ruled in 2019 that the British government acted unlawfully in selling weapons to Saudi Arabia that were used in the Yemen war. The court, however, did not order a halt to the exports to the Gulf Arab kingdom.

Oxfam’s report portrayed a grim picture.

Martin Butcher, Oxfam’s policy adviser on arms and conflict and author of the report, said they analyzed 1,727 attacks on civilians in Yemen’s war during the 14-month period, with the Saudi-led coalition — using weapons supplied by the U.K. and the U.S. — being responsible for a quarter of all attacks.

A member of a Yemeni mine disposal team works during an awareness campaign against the dangers of landmines and explosives in the Khokha district of the Hodeida province of Yemen on Dec. 21, 2022. (Khaled Ziad/AFP via Getty Images)

“It’s just so relentless,” Butcher told AP. “People just find it so hard to escape the violence and the killing.”

The 43-page report said the analyzed attacks killed at least 839 civilians and wounded 1,775 others. Of all the attacks by the Saudi-led coalition during the 14-month period, airstrikes alone killed at least 87 civilians and wounded 136, the report found. The rest of the attacks were artillery, missiles and drone attacks, as well as from land mines, road bombs and light arms.

The report found that airstrikes and artillery attacks involved cluster munitions, “weapons banned by international convention and customary law.”

The charity counted at least 19 attacks by the coalition on health facilities and ambulances. It said 293 airstrikes forced people to flee their homes.

All parties to the war have been accused of killing and wounding civilians in Yemen’s eight-year conflict. Overall, the war has killed more than 150,000 people, including over 14,500 civilians, according to The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. It has also created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Butcher called on the U.K. government to “immediately stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen,” and to promote a permanent cease-fire and negotiations for a long-term settlement through its position as a member of the U.N. Security Council.

“They’ve [the government] really been not only arming Saudi Arabia, but also very reluctant to use their position in the Security Council to push for peace,” he said.

Chris Martin with Defense News contributed to this report.

开罗——周三发布的一份新报告称，由英国和美国提供的武器被沙特领导的联军用于在饱受战争蹂躏的也门作战，在短短一年多的时间里，造成至少 87 名平民死亡，另有 136 人受伤。

乐施会发布的报告显示，在2021年1月至2022年2月底期间，沙特领导的联军在也门对平民发动的数百起袭击中，使用的武器全部来自英国和美国。英国是沙特阿拉伯的第二大武器供应国，仅次于美国。

也门战争始于2014年9月，当时伊朗支持的胡塞武装占领了也门首都萨那，迫使国际社会承认的也门政府流亡海外。2015年3月，由沙特阿拉伯领导的联军——配备了美国和英国的武器和情报——加入也门流亡政府一方，参与战争。

乐施会的这份报告发布之际，正值反武器贸易运动组织（Campaign Against Arms Trade）对英国政府提起法律诉讼，指控其向也门战争提供武器。该组织表示，乐施会将提供证词以支持这项诉讼。

2016年，在伦敦，国际特赦组织活动人士手持自制的仿制导弹，上面写着“英国制造，在也门摧毁生命”，游行穿过威斯敏斯特桥，向唐宁街进发，抗议英国向沙特阿拉伯出售武器。（克里斯·拉特克利夫/盖蒂图片社）

英国国际贸易部发言人在回应美联社的询问时表示，英国实行“世界上最健全、最透明的出口管制制度之一”。

发言人表示：“我们严格按照风险评估框架对所有出口申请进行全面审查，并一如既往地对所有许可证进行认真和持续的审查。”

沙特领导的联军发言人暂未对此事发表评论。

瑞典智库斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所追踪重大武器转让情况。美国向沙特阿拉伯提供的2021年交付或订购的武器包括GBU-39制导炸弹、鱼叉Block 2反舰导弹和铺路制导炸弹。英国向沙特阿拉伯出售的主要武器之一是流星超视距空空导弹。

反武器运动人士发起的这场诉讼已持续多年。伦敦上诉法院于2019年裁定，英国政府向沙特阿拉伯出售用于也门战争的武器属于非法行为。然而，法院并未下令停止向这个海湾阿拉伯王国出口武器。

乐施会的报告描绘了一幅严峻的景象。

乐施会武器与冲突政策顾问、该报告的作者马丁·布彻表示，他们分析了也门战争期间 14 个月内发生的 1727 起针对平民的袭击事件，其中沙特领导的联军（使用英国和美国提供的武器）应对四分之一的袭击事件负责。

2022年12月21日，在也门荷台达省霍哈区，一名也门排雷队队员正在开展地雷和爆炸物危害宣传活动。（Khaled Ziad/AFP via Getty Images）

“这简直太无情了，”布彻告诉美联社。“人们很难摆脱暴力和杀戮。”

这份长达43页的报告指出，经分析的袭击事件造成至少839名平民死亡，1775人受伤。报告发现，在沙特领导的联军发动的14个月袭击中，仅空袭就造成至少87名平民死亡，136人受伤。其余袭击则包括炮击、导弹袭击、无人机袭击，以及地雷、路边炸弹和轻武器袭击。

报告发现，空袭和炮击使用了集束弹药，“这种武器已被国际公约和习惯法禁止”。

该慈善机构统计，联军至少对医疗设施和救护车发动了19次袭击。该机构称，293次空袭迫使人们逃离家园。

在也门长达八年的冲突中，所有交战方都被指控杀害和伤害平民。据武装冲突地点与事件数据项目（ACLED）统计，这场战争已造成超过15万人死亡，其中包括超过1.45万名平民。它也造成了世界上最严重的人道主义危机之一。

布彻呼吁英国政府“立即停止向沙特阿拉伯出售武器用于也门”，并利用其作为联合国安理会成员的地位，推动永久停火和长期解决方案的谈判。

他说：“他们（政府）不仅一直在武装沙特阿拉伯，而且非常不愿意利用其在安理会的地位来推动和平。”

《防务新闻》的克里斯·马丁对本报道亦有贡献。