The US may be aiding war crimes in Yemen

One of the Middle East's bloodiest conflicts is also one of its most overlooked. It's not Syria or Iraq. It's in a different place entirely. Yemen. The twenty month old civil war there killed more than ten thousand people and triggered a massive humanitarian crisis but press coverage is been minimal overshadowed by the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq In Yemen one side has the Houthi rebels backed by Iran. On the other you have the former Yemeni government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi backed by a coalition of ten countries led by neighboring Saudi Arabia who is ultimately also backed by the US The civil war there erupted in 2015 when the Houthis a Shiite group who receive money and weapons from Iran took up arms to overthrow Yemen's government which is Sunni and backed by Saudi Arabia. The Houthis complain that the government discriminated against them for years. Mistreating them on a large scale and that their fight is a fight to be treated fairly. Many in the region by contrast see it very differently They think it's the latest front in a shadow war between Saudi Arabia and Iran for control over the entire region. In March of 2015 Saudi Arabia began bombing Houthi held territory across Yemen Causing mass civilian casualties. They've destroyed targets ranging from marketplaces to hospitals from schools and even to a funeral recently where one hundred forty people were killed in a single strike. In August the Saudis bombed the vital part of al-Hudaydah severely damaging a main source of Yemen's food any humanitarian aid shipments. And increasing the chances of mass starvation and what is already an impoverished country. the indiscriminate bombing has prompted investigations by the U. N. for possible war crimes While the Saudis are leading this bloody campaign, the blame also spreads to great power whose support is directly contributing to the carnage to the United States. the US has supported Saudi Arabia militarily since World War II selling arms providing military aid training the Saudi military on how to use US manufactured planes tanks and other weapons in recent years Saudi Arabia has bought more weapons from the U. S. than any other country in the world just since March of 2015 the U. S. authorized twenty two billion dollars worth of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia the most recent deal includes twenty Abrams tanks listed as battle damage replacements. The battle of course is Yemen. The weapons the U. S. sells also include cluster bombs banned by most of the international community and F-15 fighter planes which is making up the vast bulk of what the Saudi airforce is currently using as it bombs Yemen. But America's aid to Saudi Arabia goes way beyond weapon sales. And it's directly contributing to the current fight. That's because Washington is literally helping to refuel Saudi planes. while they strike targets across Yemen. When the Saudis ask the U. S. to refuel one of their planes, giant American tankers such as KC-135 Stratotanker take off from Incirlik air base in Turkey or from US carriers in the Arabian Sea they then linked up with Saudi F-15s in international air space these airborne refuels give the Saudi planes a much longer range and allow Saudi air campaign to become more lethal. because the planes can stay in the air longer and hit targets much more frequently as of late November the U. S. have flown more than sixteen hundred refueling missions to over sixty three hundred aircraft in the skies bombing Yemen that's an average of two a day so why is the U. S. so supportive of this bloody campaign? The most important reason is the Iran nuclear deal. In 2015, the Obama administration offered to drop its crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran limiting its nuclear program Without those sanctions Iran's political and economic power has significantly increased making Saudi Arabia nervous that they're enemy will gain new influence in the region. To countries from Iraq to Lebanon and Syria to Yemen. Now that Iran and influences in Saudi Arabia's backyard the Saudis fear that Houthi rebels loyal to Iran will now be literally on the footsteps of their country. They want U. S. help beating them back. Secondly the intervention Yemen is also a part of the U. S. is broader counterterrorist strategy for the Middle East the goal of US policy in Yemen is to make sure that Yemen cannot be a safe haven that extremists can use to attack the west and to attack the United States Yemen is home to the most active and dangerous branch of al Qaeda The US has a major interest in preventing this terror group from taking advantage of the power vacuum in Yemen to plot new attacks. Finally the US is the only one of its longstanding most important allies since World War II Saudi Arabia has been a vital partner against communism and now terrorism the Yemen campaign is a high priority for Saudi Arabia and that makes it a priority for the United States. But as the war devolves into bloody stalemate the administration is increasingly worried about being complicit in actual war crimes State Department documents obtained by Reuters a meeting agenda from January 2016 talks about limiting exposure to LOAC. which means the law of armed conflict. Some in the White House worried that the U. S. was potentially violating that law because of its assistance to Saudi Arabia. In those documents State Department Officials also discuss the implications of a 2013 international court decision implying that if the US were to provide practical assistance encouragement or moral support to the Saudis the U.S. could be charged with war crimes In an effort to avoid this the U.S. issued a no strike list to the Saudis try to mitigate civilian casualties it included things like known hospitals universities schools cemeteries. The Saudis appear to be ignoring it. The U.N. estimates 10,000 people have died in the fight three hundred seventy thousand children are malnourished. and the ten thousand other children have already died from preventable diseases. nearly three million people have been pushed out of their homes in the last year of fighting alone Truces have come and gone. While hopes for peace talks falter. The Houthis continue to run the government in the capital of Sana'a raising questions about what Saudi Arabia has actually accomplished and whether any of it could possibly be worth the cost Here at home in Congress some lawmakers in both parties have talked about stopping weapons sales to Saudi Arabia Until there's more to keep the air war in Yemen from causing massive human rights abuses. Others argue that America's relationship with Saudi Arabia is so important that the US needs to keep selling weapons despite the carnage in Yemen. The Obama administration for its part has repeatedly urged the Saudis to do more to avoid accidentally hitting targets like schools and hospitals the White House is also condemned individual attacks. But the reality is that the U. S. finds itself increasingly complicit with the actions of a coalition led by Saudi Arabia That means president Obama will leave office with America helping an ally fight a bloody war causing mass civilian suffering that shows no signs of ending and that is not a legacy to be proud of

Channel: Vox

Views: 3,334,783

Keywords: saudi arabia, u.s., yemen, civil war, middle east, vox, yemen war 2016 latest news, vox news, the us may be aiding war crimes in yemen, اليمن, us war crimes, yaman war, حرب اليمن, war crimes

Id: CwwP3SiBIC8

Length: 7min 31sec (451 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 12 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/bullfights_on_acid]

There's a lot to be said about US support of KSA, and maybe I'm defeating the purpose of this sub, but Vox never fails at consistently disappointing me with their reporting and analysis. Even though it's a tertiary detail, it tends to reflect poorly on their integrity:

• At 3:05, they claim/illustrate that "giant American tankers like the KC 135" take off from US carriers in the Arabian Sea. No. Neither the KC 135 or KC 10 tankers that are used for aerial refueling are capable of carrier based operations. I think the graphics guy just wanted to add in another few seconds of planes whizzing around.

[u/Tycho-the-Wanderer]

Yemen is one of the hidden wars that's never really going to see the light of day because ISIS next door manages to draw vast amounts of international attention with their actions. It's curious, really, as it has all the hallmarks of what has made up the Syrian conflict so far; government backed forces squaring off against rebels supported by foreign elements, and militant Islamist factions duking it out with both sides and wanting to use the territory as a springboard for activities abroad. When ISIS crumbles, will attention turn to Yemen? Or will it be ignored as well until Yemeni-trained jihadists come to the West?