Tactics echoes the call of international human rights groups for an end to the arbitrary and reckless re-selling of arms to Yemeni militia groups. Amnesty International has labelled such groups: “unaccountable militias accused of war crimes”.

A recent report by CNN provided further evidence of the worrying trend of the UAE selling on its American-supplied weapons to militias.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are implicated in revelations of re-selling arms intended to be monitored government-to-government. The stories which lift the lid on the western role in the spiralling conflict in Yemen, which the UN has lebelled the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis”.

The flood of advanced western weaponry into Yemen has created a zero-sum game in which shifting alliances have made an outcome impossible to predict. In this climate, ISIS has re-emerged to carry out suicide bombings.

The US and other western powers must reassess their role in a conflict which, some estimates suggest, could see a death toll of a quarter of a million by 2020. Tactics Institute believes only a ceasefire and political solution will resolve the conflict. As well as regional powers seeking to gain advantage at the expense of the Yemeni population, we now see profit-driven mercenaries willing to undermine Yemen’s political system to pursue their goals. Yemen is a humanitarian disaster and all sides must call a halt to the bloody pursuit of narrow self-interest.

Tactics Institute for Security and Counter Terrorism is an independent, non-partisan, think tank. Tactics researches terrorism to identify its causes and best possible remedies, always bearing in mind the protection of individual liberties and the human rights of all those affected.

ENDS

For more information please contact Tactics Institute for Security and Counter Terrorism at info@tacticsinstitute.com