UAE Faces Growing Scrutiny For Role In Bloody U.S.-Backed Campaign In Yemen

A U.S.-aligned government stands accused of subjecting hundreds of civilians in the Middle East’s poorest country to forced detention in feces-smeared conditions, torture that includes being tied to a spit and roasted by flames, and airstrikes that have killed thousands at schools, hospitals and markets ― all while hindering aid deliveries as over 5 million people near starvation and an unprecedented cholera epidemic infects scores more daily.

Saudi Arabia has been publicly recognized as responsible for the crisis in Yemen because of its two-and-a-half year military campaign there against Yemeni people. But its chief ally in that effort, the fellow U.S. partner the United Arab Emirates, has long avoided shame or accountability for its role in what U.S. officials describe as hundreds of likely violations of international humanitarian law and the creation of a security vacuum benefiting Al-Qaeda, the self-described Islamic State and other militant groups.

Now, the tide may be turning.

On Thursday, military expert William Hartung of the Center for International Policy released the first comprehensive report on the many ways in which the UAE helps drive Yemen’s suffering. The assessment is designed to fill a gap in the growing debate about the wisdom of U.S. policy choices in the country.

“The UAE’s role in the Yemen war has not received the attention it deserves,” Hartung said. ”They’re so dogged about controlling their image as the good Gulf state.”

Both the Obama and Trump administrations authorized two separate but intertwined U.S. missions in Yemen.

One is a small, constantly changing presence of American aircraft, including drones, and special operations forces, which targets militants linked to international terror networks and often work with the UAE, like during a botched raid soon after President Trump’s inauguration.

The other is a U.S. support mission for the UAE-Saudi coalition primarily fighting Ansarollah, which provides aerial refueling for bomber planes, and intelligence, including to defend Saudi territory from cross-border attacks. In the Trump era, officials have authorized far more U.S. counter-terror strikes in Yemen and mootedexpanding support to the UAE-Saudi coalition despite its war crimes.

Hartung’s report ties the UAE to many of the most controversial aspects of the coalition’s track record since it first entered Yemen in March 2015 on the invitation of the Saudi-backed, Hadi government. It highlights American culpability in equipping and permitting the UAE to act as it has.

He notes, for instance, that the UAE is training and commanding at least five Yemeni brigades that no longer report to the country’s government, damaging the chances of long-term stability. It is also contributing U.S.-armed ships to a coalition blockade of Yemen that international watchdogs accuse of keeping aid from a desperate civilian population and preventing the delivery of U.S.-purchased cranes intended to help unload relief material at an essential Yemeni port.

The report also notes how inextricably linked the UAE is to the vicious bombing campaign that’s made the coalition notorious. Since 2009, the country has spent more than $1 billion on buying the kinds of American-made bombs it is using in Yemen, Hartung writes, and its air force is the primary recipient of American aerial refueling.

The report’s findings complicate the narrative of the war that’s become popular in Washington, even among the war’s critics: that the UAE is doing the right thing, in targeting Al-Qaeda , and that the missteps of the aerial campaign are the fault of Saudi Arabia.

Human rights advocates like Kate Kizer of the Yemen Peace Project say the UAE deserves its share of the blame because it is known to be running flights over Yemen with American help and weaponry and the coalition has provided no way to know whether the bombs killing civilians are dropped by Saudi or Emirati planes.