Middle East Eye: UK Should End Support for Saudi War
Writer and author, David Wearing, said in an article published by the British “Middle East Eye” website, Monday, that the United Kingdom should pause and take Biden’s example to end its support for Saudi Arabia, which is waging a war on Yemen. ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen” waged by a coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia
He pointed out that Washington’s reversal on Yemen could prove to be one of the most important events in global politics for years, offering a way out of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It certainly represents a major humiliation for both the Saudi royals and their other key arms supplier, the United Kingdom.
In the serial violations of international law, Saudis have been the leading culprits. Roughly two-thirds of civilian deaths have been due to indiscriminate coalition bombing. The blockade imposed by the Saudis and their partners is the leading cause of a humanitarian crisis that has claimed more than 85,000 infant lives, according to Save the Children.
The writer added that the Saudi war has overwhelmingly been an aerial one, waged by military jets that are operationally dependent on British and American support. Washington and London could have pulled the plug on this slaughter at any time over the past six years; they chose not to. The UN has warned that this active complicity leaves the Saudis’ western allies exposed to war crimes charges themselves.
He said that opposition to the war became bipartisan on Capitol Hill in recent years, not because of enlightened American “values”, but because it had gradually become a political embarrassment and a military failure. The former Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, credits “the tireless activists from Yemen and the whole world over [whose] global solidarity and relentless demands forced this outcome”.
Pointing that the withdrawal of US support is a serious humiliation for Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The intervention in Yemen was one of his first initiatives in government – a bid to demonstrate Saudi power and resolve in the region. In the end, it only demonstrated the kingdom’s geopolitical impotence. What was supposed to be a short campaign instead degenerated into a quagmire, and has now been effectively called off by the regime’s superpower patron.
Military leeway
Wearing stated that Biden’s precise choice of words – ending support for “offensive operations” – may give the Saudis some military leeway. As far as they are concerned, their entire war is a defensive one. But Biden’s demand for a UN-backed ceasefire and his appointment of a US envoy to the Yemen conflict are both indications that he wants the war over quickly, irrespective of whether the Saudis lose face in the process.
On the British role in the war he said, “The about-face from Washington leaves the UK – Riyadh’s other leading accomplice – out on a limb. London has never shown any inclination to end its involvement in the war, but its hand has now effectively been forced.”
He added,” Now, history will record that Britain continued perpetuating the carnage to the bitter end, only to be shown up by its closest ally. At the time of writing, four days on from Biden’s announcement, the UK foreign office has issued no statement in response.”
Political roadmap
He concluded the article by saying, “Even a UN-backed ceasefire will only be a first step on a delicate journey toward a more durable, long-term settlement. What Yemen needs now is what it needed six years ago when this futile conflict broke out: a political roadmap to a sustainable future for all its communities, formulated through an inclusive, credible process of national dialogue, free from all foreign interference (not just from the West).”
Source: Middle East Eye