Saudi coalition using illegal British cluster munitions in Yemen

The British government has evidence that Saudi Arabia is using British made cluster bombs in Yemen, according to a source that leaked this information to British newspaper the Guardian.

Both media reports and an investigation by the British government have proven that this is the case. It is said that British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has known about this for at least a month.

On Friday, the Foreign Office indicated that it had investigated the use of British weapons by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. A spokesperson said Whitehall “analysed” the allegations against the UK “carefully using all available information, considering all possibilities” and has “raised the issue with the Saudi-led coalition”.

Cluster munitions are indiscriminate and illegal. The UK has backed and ratified the Cluster Munitions Convention of 2008 which aims to rid the world of all cluster munitions. However, the cluster munitions that the Saudis are currently using were sold to them during the 1980s.

Yemen has been locked in a bitter battle between Houthi rebels allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, along with local tribes and resistance forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition.