Yemenis sue US arms producers for 'aiding in war crimes'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
4 Mar 2023 16:26
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A group of Yemenis filed a lawsuit against top US arms manufacturers for aiding and abetting war crimes in Yemen.

People injured by Saudi-led airstrikes on a detention center lie on hospital beds in Saada, Yemen, on January 22, 2022. (Reuters)

A group of Yemeni nationals filed a lawsuit in the US against top arms producers, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics, for aiding and abetting war crimes by supplying arms to a Saudi-led attack on Yemen.

The lawsuit was filed in Washington DC, and names Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' leaders, Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed, in addition to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.

“Year after year, the bombs fell - on wedding tents, funeral halls, fishing boats, and a school bus - killing thousands of civilians and helping turn Yemen into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” the lawsuit read.

“Weapons supplied by US companies through sales unlawfully approved by US officials, allowed Saudi Arabia and the UAE through the named Defendant officials to pursue an indiscriminate and brutal bombing campaign,” it continued.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Terrence Collingsworth of International Rights Advocates after the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), announced that it will take legal action against the British government for selling arms to Saudi Arabia during its ongoing war on Yemen.

Over 25,000 airstrikes, mostly by #SaudiArabia and made possible by the UK's Royal Air Force, have resulted in the death of almost 9,000 civilians.#Yemen #YemenCantWait pic.twitter.com/vjiutMxB5h
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 11, 2023

The lawsuit emphasized the number of Yemenis who have fallen victim to bombs since the beginning of the aggression, which has reached over 25,000 civilians, with a rising threat.

The United Nations highlighted in December last year that more than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or maimed during the war on Yemen that started nearly eight years ago.

"The true toll of this conflict is likely to be far higher," indicated the children's agency UNICEF about the casualties of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The agency said that "at least 74 children were among the 164 people killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance between July and September alone."

On her part, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell pointed out that "thousands of children have lost their lives, hundreds of thousands more remain at risk of death from preventable disease or starvation."

The agency said about 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, one-quarter of them aged under five, and most are at extreme risk from cholera, measles, and other vaccine-preventable diseases.