US, UK coordinate Saudi attacks in Yemen: Analyst
The US and the UK have been coordinating Saudi Arabia's attacks in Yemen which have killed at least 11,400 people since March 2015, says a political analyst.
Ralph Schoenman, former personal secretary of British philosopher Bertrand Russell, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV when asked about a report that Washington was halting its planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
A senior US official said on Tuesday that "we have made clear that US security cooperation is not a blank check,” adding, “Consequently, we’ve decided not to move forward with some foreign military sales cases for air-dropped munitions, PGMs (precision-guided munitions).”
“That’s obviously a direct reflection of the concerns that we have about Saudi strikes that have resulted in civilian casualties,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The US decision would leave the UK faced with an awkward dilemma because of the scale of its weapons sales to the Saudis.
Schoenman said the decision “is a part of the continuing circumstance, in which the United States and the United Kingdom have been coordinating with the Saudi genocidal attacks upon the population in Yemen.”
What has been happening “is a relentless saturation bombing of schools, hospitals, and funerals” in Yemen, he told Press TV on Wednesday.
“Human rights organizations have constantly protested the scale of these saturation bombings over two years of attacks upon the populations,” the analyst said.
He went on to say that “the US companies are engaged in it as UK companies,” which “sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guidance systems that convert dumb bombs into precise guided munitions.”
Saudi Arabia launched its offensive to undermine the Ansarullah movement and reinstate Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The US has been providing logistic and surveillance support to Saudi Arabia.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has offered Riyadh $115 billion in arms sales since Obama took office in 2009, the most of any American administration in the 71-year US-Saudi alliance.
In addition, the UK, which has been one of the biggest suppliers of weapons to Riyadh for 40 years, sold weapons to the kingdom during its war on Yemen. Last year, London supplied export licenses for over $4 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia.
The UK has personnel at Saudi headquarters providing targeting advice to the Saudis. The US also plans to offer Saudi Arabia training in targeting.
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