War Crimes In Yemen
Paul R. Pilar
The war in Yemen has for some time been one of the worst current human-made humanitarian disasters. Now comes a report from the UN Human Rights Council, based on extensive investigations by a group of experts who have examined the past four years of the war, not only documenting human suffering as a by-product of war, but also committing war crimes. To a large extent, the major foreign offenses – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have committed the most devastating crimes, and the giant Yemeni government that has returned to them.
The main conclusion of the report is:
The Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the Governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are responsible for human rights violations, including the unlawful deprivation of the right to life, arbitrary detention, rape, torture and ill-treatment, disappearances and recruitment of children and serious violations of freedom of expression and economic, social and cultural rights , In particular the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health.
The most destructive element in the war was the indiscriminate bombing by the air forces of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In the past three years, such air strikes have hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities, “the report says. The report goes on to provide supporting details. The bombing of a school bus last month, killing dozens of young boys, was among the latest incidents that have become a series of air atrocities.
US involvement
The United States is involved in aerial destruction. US aid to the Saudi and UAE air war includes refueling in the air, targeting information, and massive arms sales. The United States offers a bomb that destroyed the school bus.
The removal of officials from the Trump administration, such as Defense Secretary James Matisse’s statement that US aid is “unconditional” and requires the Saudi-led coalition to “do whatever is humanly possible to avoid the innocent loss of life,” is not consistent with how this war is fought. . The evidence is more consistent with Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky in describing what they called the “slave slavery” Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia “dangerous and irresponsible policies.”
The United Nations report indicates that aggressive behavior exists in all aspects of the Yemeni war. Huthi rebels’ crimes include the use of child soldiers. But in terms of the scale of human suffering, including the suffering caused by violations of international law of war, responsibility lies much more on the Saudi-Saudi side. This is also the aspect that should be the most important offense for US policymakers and the American public because it is the US side of its operations.
As a matter of human values, Trump’s policy towards the Yemen war can not be defended. It is more untenable in terms of legal principles or broader political values. Mattis spoke about the US involvement in the war in Yemen as “aiming to restore the legitimate government there.” Shariah must be assessed through awareness of how the head of this apparent government, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, appears in his post. Took office when President Ali Abdullah Saleh, long regarded as a friend of the United States, left office amid a turbulent Arab Spring on the streets. Hadi now presides at least to sponsor his foreign sponsors in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on anything else. Was elected “president” in 2012 in elections where he was the only candidate and remained in office after the end of what was supposed to be for two years. Fled to Saudi Arabia when the Houthis seized the capital Sana’a,
It should be noted that support for “rightful” governments has hardly been a hallmark of the Trump administration’s policies in the Middle East. It certainly is not apparent in support for rebel forces opposed to the Assad regime in Syria, and in destabilization efforts aimed at regime change there and elsewhere.
Neither does the administration’s policy toward the Yemeni war accord with a realist perspective of where U.S. interests in the area do and do not lie. The United States does not have a stake in the outcome of civil warfare in Yemen. The Houthi rebellion is rooted in very local issues involving what the Houthis contend has been insufficient central government attention to the interests of tribal elements in the north of the country. Nor do the Houthis pose more than a trivial threat to anyone else in the region. Although the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia have made a big deal about missiles that the Houthis have fired at Saudi Arabia, those firings are pinpricks compared to the aerial assault in the other direction for which the missiles have been an attempt at retaliation. Missiles would not be launched if the Saudis and Emiratis had never launched their destructive expedition.
An end to U.S. military aid to the Saudi-Emirati war effort would encourage the Saudis and Emiratis to find ways to extricate themselves from their quagmire and to attempt to sponsor a Yemeni peace settlement rather than an indefinite war.
Fixation on Iran
Obsessions are never a good basis for policy. The U.S. obsession with Iran drives the current U.S. policy on Yemen. Iran has given aid to the Houthis, and the U.S. urge—which the Trump administration exhibits to an extreme—is to oppose anyone and anything with a connection to Iran, and to support anyone opposing Iran.
This obsession, like others, muddies perceptions and thinking about where threats really lie. Although the Houthis commonly are described as Iranian proxies, they aren’t, notwithstanding how glad they may be to accept Iranian aid. The most significant thing the Houthis have done during this war—their capture of the capital city of Sanaa—they did against Iran’s advice.
Politics with these unfortunate roots may be counterproductive. Yemen is not a difficult scene for the Iranians, but their modest help to the Houthis was a low-cost way to make their Saudi rivals bleed. As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regime seems distracted and full of adventure in Yemen, the more incentives Iran has to continue to encourage bleeding. That the US administration, which waged an economic war against Iran and aims to destabilize its regime is part of the Yemeni chaos – and thus participate in the international scandal of the Saudis documented in the UN report – gives Iran a greater incentive to encourage bleeding