UK Government approved Saudi arms deals worth £238m six months after deadly Yemen funeral air strike

The British government licensed £283m worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the six months after an air strike by the Riyadh-led coalition killed 140 mourners at a funeral in Yemen.

The British government licensed £283m worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the six months after an air strike by the Riyadh-led coalition killed 140 mourners at a funeral in Yemen.

A UN sanctions monitor told the Security Council that last year’s double air strike, which targeted both mourners and those who helped them in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, violated international law.

It was one of the bloodiest attacks in a two-year campaign waged by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Following the attack, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson advised Trade Secretary Liam Fox to grant four export license applications to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force with equipment which could be used in Yemen, according to The Guardian.

Figures compiled by the Campaign Against Arms Trade show that from the time of the attack on 8 October until the end of March 2017, the UK government authorized exports including £263m worth of combat aircraft components and £4m of bombs and missiles to the country.

The figures exclude aircraft cannon equipment, targeting software, aircraft components and assault rifles exported under 24 open licenses, which are seen as even less transparent.