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Saudi Arabia recruits Yemenis to fight on border

January 17, 2018 at 5:19 am

Yemenis over look a drone attack on December 2016 [Qatar News Agency/Twitter]

Saudi Arabia is “forcibly” recruiting Yemeni civilians who are illegally residing on its territory to fight on its borders with Yemen against Houthis, The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights revealed yesterday.

The Geneva-based organisation quoted the Yemeni residents as saying that the recruitment move was part of the Kingdom’s “A Nation without Violations” campaign, which was launched by the Saudi authorities and led to the arrest of dozens of them.

“We were forcibly transferred to the military recruitment camps to fight on the border fronts on behalf of the Saudi army,” they were quoted as saying.

On 29 March 2017, the Saudi interior ministry launched the “A Nation without Violations” campaign aiming to give residency, labour law violators and infiltrators the chance to leave the Kingdom without having to pay penalties.

During the campaign, the Saudi authorities have arrested some a 70,000 violators of work and residency laws, as well as border infiltrators. It was also reported to have earned praise and support from various sectors, including human rights and justice organizations.

Read: Here’s what Washington should do about Yemen