Saudi Arabia denies handing US weapons over to Sudanese fighters in Yemen

Saudi Arabia denied that it had handed US-made weapons over to Sudanese soldiers in Yemen. The Kingdom’s statement contradicts the one five Sudanese soldiers in Yemen had made to The New York Times last week.

The article revolved around the Sudanese soldiers’ fighting for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.  Five Sudanese soldiers, who survived the conflict, stated that they had received “sophisticated” weapons while they were in training camps in Saudi Arabia. They said that they were not familiar with these types and believed that they are made by the US.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Kingdom stressed that the investigation carried out by the Saudi government indicated that US-made weapons “were never distributed among Sudanese fighters who are involved in the conflict as part of the coalition operations.”The Kingdom did not disclose information about the weapons or from where those weapons came.

The five Sudanese fighters and one other, who was about to leave for Yemen, said that their units included many young men ranging between 14 and 18 years.

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One of the fighters, Hajar Shomo, who became 16 years old in December, stated that he started fighting with the Saudi coalition in Yemen in 2017 when he was 14 years old.

In the article, Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, denied the presence of any child among his troops and considered these testimonies to be “fake and incorrect.”

Saudi Arabia reiterated this denial during a statement which said that “Saudi Arabia has examined the records of all military staff deployed in the Kingdom as part of the military operations in Yemen, and the examination has revealed that there were no minor participants.”

The statement stressed that critics must focus on Saudi Arabia’s enemy in Yemen. Namely, the Houthis allied with Iran, whose child recruitment activities are “conclusively documented by international organisations.”