UK Aid in Yemen Bombed by Saudi-Led Coalition Aerial Raids: Report

Yamanyoon

Oxfam, an international aid organization based in Oxford, has announced that its aid projects in Yemen were targeted by aerial raids carried out by the Saudi-led coalition warplanes, who the London government is backing against Yemen.

The organization confirmed, according to a report published by the newspaper “The Independent” today that a cholera treatment center in the city of Abs in the province of Hajjah was struck with airstrikes purchased from the US and the UK last June, although the organization has reported to the Saudi-led coalition for more than 12 times that it is a humanitarian center for civilians.

Two months earlier, coalition raids, according to the organization, caused significant damage to the Oxfam-supported water supply system, which was provided over 6,000 people who don’t have access to clean water.

“irresponsible and incoherent” that is how the British policy was expressed towards the war on Yemen by  Toni Pearce, Oxfam’s head of advocacy. The war was launched by the Saudi kingdom in support with many other countries in March 2015, which has sparked the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in numbers of people and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Moreover, the Oxfam’s head of advocacy said that on the one hand, aid received from Britain has been a vital lifeline for Yemenis, on the other, British bombs are sparking the flames of the ongoing war that is leading to countless lives being lost each week due to the fighting, disease, and hunger.

“The UK continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, whose coalition bombing campaign in Yemen has cut off vital food supplies, destroyed hospitals and homes, and hit aid programmes funded by British taxpayers.”

It is noteworthy that the UK Department for International Development (DFID) reported the targeting of a warehouse of UK-funded aid by a coalition military aircraft raid in 2015. DFID declined to comment on the latest projects hit.

The UK has been the second top arms seller to Saudi Arabia, where an estimated £3.87billion worth of arms had been received by the kingdom since the beginning of its military campaign on Yemen in 2015.

The Saudi coalition that mainly holds on the US and the Uk support has destroyed and damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, schools, hospitals etc, where according to the Yemen Data Project (YDP), about  48 percent of all known airstrikes hit non-military targets.

The Independent was told by Iona Craig, spokesperson of YDP, that the Saudi-UAE assault on Hodeidah coastal province, the data has shown a significant rise in non-military targeting.

“This is now a trend that has continued since June and peaked in September with 48 percent of air raids targeting civilian sites.”

She continued: “This continuing rise of civilian targeting has also been reflected in the casualty figures.”

The former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell described the UK’s policy towards the tragedy in Yemen as when you punch a person in the face then offering them a plaster.

Theresa May has supported de-escalation in Yemen but has not endorsed the US calls for a ceasefire. Many opposition and Conservative Party MPs have put pressure on Theresa May to rethink the relationship with Saudi Arabia, one of the UK’s chief allies in the region.

Saudi Arabia alongside the UAE and many others began to bomb Yemen in 2015 and, imposing an overall siege on the country. Saudi Arabia bombardments have targeted most of the infrastructure in the country and destroyed thousands of civilians’ homes; thus, resulting in the displacement of more than 2 million Yemenis.

Saudi Arabia recently began a different kind of warfare on the country by printing billions of banknotes without a coverage of the other currencies, which targeted the economy of the country, resulting in a terrifying increase of prices.