UN: Western Nations Possibly Complicit in Yemen War Crimes

According to a United Nations report, the United States, Britain and France may be complicit in war crimes in Yemen by providing military support to a Saudi-led coalition that for over four years has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The legality of arms transfers by the three Western countries, the report contends, “remains questionable and is the subject of various domestic court proceedings.” The UN fact-finding mission accused Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of killing civilians in air strikes and of deliberately denying them food. For their part, the Houthis have shelled populated cities, deployed child soldiers and used “siege-like warfare.” On Sunday, coalition air strikes in southwest Yemen hit a prison complex, killing dozens of people. Riyadh in 2015 intervened militarily in Yemen, after the Houthis captured the capital Sana’a and ousted the internationally recognized government. Since then, the fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed some 15 million others to the brink of starvation.