Newsweek: Yemeni Journalist Survives Assassination Attempt, Tells Details of UAE’s Contract with US Mercenaries

Newsweek has published report on the prosecution and assassination attempts against the Yemeni journalist Abdullah Suleiman Daubalah, who survived the assassination attempt, ordered by the United Arab Emirates and led by American mercenaries. He has spoken out about his campaign on the US government to hold those responsible. The report revealed that American mercenaries are affiliated with the Spear Operations Group contracted by the UAE to carry out assassinations.

Daubalah, now living in Turkey after fledding Yemen via Jordan, is one of two Yemenis calling on US, British and Turkish authorities to arrest the Americans and Emiratis accused in the covert operations, as well as other war crimes committed in Yemen.

Last week, Daubalah and his lawyers at the London-based Stoke White firm submitted all collected evidence to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Turkish Ministry of Justice and Britain’s Metropolitan Police.
They have not yet released the names of those they accuse of wrongdoing, nor the nature of their evidence. Stoke White said Daubalah and the other complainant—Salah Muslem Salem, whose brother was killed in Yemen in 2019—are self-funding their case with no third-party support.

American mercenaries working for the Spear Operations Group carried out the mission, in which no one was killed. A 2018 Buzzfeed report detailed how the UAE contracted the Americans in their campaign against “terrorist” targets in Yemen, many of whom were linked to the Islamist Al-Islah political party—a Yemeni affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood organization that is banned in the UAE.

Daubalah acknowledged it is unlikely that U.S. authorities will detain any of the accused Americans. Instead, his complaint is about trying to curb UAE assassination campaigns and make nations “think twice” before drafting in mercenaries. He also noted that 20 people could have been killed, and that “lives are precious and they cannot be overlooked.”

In addition, US and other western countries continue to provide logistical support to the UAE and Saudi forces in their war against Yemen, in addition to the continued pumping of weapons that are used in committing war crimes against civilians.