{"article":{"id":268069,"heading":"Saudis Using US-Supplied Banned Terror Weapons Against Yemeni Civilians","author":"Stephen Lendman","created":"2015-05-03 16:42:06","modified":"2015-05-03 16:42:06","last_modified":"Sun, 03 May 2015 23:42:06","article":"

Saudis Using US-Supplied Banned Terror Weapons Against Yemeni Civilians

by Stephen Lendman

Israel and Saudi Arabia represent regional fascist police state viciousness. Fundamental international laws are systematically violated.

Israel mass murders Palestinians with impunity. Saudi terror-bombing massacres Yemenis - willfully targeting defenseless noncombatant men, women and children.

US-led Western nations provide full support and encouragement. Media scoundrels turn a blind eye to what demands daily denunciation.

Earlier reports indicated Saudis attacked Yemen's Saada province with banned chemical agents.

Toxic gas left scores of Yemeni civilians dead or injured. Witnesses and aid workers said white smoke rose from Saudi terror-bombing. Injured victims experienced suffocation, nausea and diarrhea.

Earlier in April, Houthi rebels intercepted Saudi trucks carrying chemical agents.

Yemeni General Khalid al-Barayemi said they were heading for areas controlled by terrorists.

Substances seized is used for producing lethal sarin gas. World leaders able to stop this horror do nothing.

Defenseless civilians are harmed most of all. On May 3, Human Rights Watch (HRW) headlined \"Yemen: Saudi-Led Airstrikes Used Cluster Munitions,\" saying:

\"Credible evidence indicates that the Saudi-led coalition used banned cluster munitions supplied by the United States…\"

Unexploded ones pose longterm dangers. They're banned weapons under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).

Use, transfer and stockpiling are strictly prohibited. They're terror weapons - scattering submunition bomblets over a wide area.

Scores of nations ban their use pledging \"never under any circumstances to:

\t•\t\"use cluster munitions;

\t•\tdevelop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions; (and)

\t•\tassist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.\"

Washington, Israel and Saudi Arabia use them freely. Rogue states ignore international law.

According to HRW: \"Photographs, video, and other evidence have emerged since mid-April 2015 indicating that cluster munitions have been used during recent weeks in coalition airstrikes in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate…\"

\"Human Rights Watch has established through analysis of satellite imagery that the weapons appeared to land on a cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of several dozen buildings in four to six village clusters.\"

HRW's Steve Goose said \"Saudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger.\"

\"These weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members - and the supplier, the US - are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians.\"

Children are especially vulnerable. They mistake them for toys. They're brightly colored.

They pick them up for play. Death or serious injury follows.

Israel's 2006 Lebanon war provided momentum for banning their use. UN officials estimated up to 40% of its cluster bomblets failed to explode on impact.

Pentagon commanders outrageously call them humane weapons. The ICRC calls for eliminating them altogether.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams called CCM \"the most important disarmament and humanitarian convention in over a decade.\"

Washington, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other rogue states ignore it. They use radiological, chemical, biological and other terror weapons freely.

Days after Saudi-led terror-bombing began, Riyadh spokesman Brig. General al-Assiri lied saying \"(w)e are not using cluster bombs at all.\"

In March, HRW called on all parties in Yemen's conflict to refrain from using these munitions.

Credible evidence proved Riyadh them against Yemen in November 2009 - again now since March 26.

Obama's war on Yemen rages - killing scores of civilians daily. Eye witness reports indicate Saudi special forces and snipers are involved in ground operations against Houthis in Aden.

A commander told AP on condition of anonymity that \"(a) limited coalition force entered Aden and another force is on its way.\"

AP indicated 20 in number initially aiding anti-Houthi elements in combat. Other reports said 40 - 50 special forces.

Sputnik News cited local media reporting a limited contingent of Saudi ground forces battling Houthis in Aden.

A Riyadh spokesman denied Saudi ground involvement. Nothing its government says is credible.

Saudi attack helicopters were seen flying over Aden, Sanaa and elsewhere. Photos were posted on social media. They conducted air attacks on US-designated targets.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denounced unacceptable silence by certain countries on what's ongoing.

\"Tehran supports Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue in a venue agreed upon by all Yemeni groups, and rejects any foreign interference in this country,\" he stressed.

\"(W)e will not let anybody play with our common security through adventurous measures,\" he added.

Yemen's Al-Watan newspaper cited an unnamed source saying Egyptian strongman Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi King Salman discussed possible joint ground military operations in Yemen.

Whether Saudi special forces in Aden indicate more extensive planned incursions remains to be seen.

Yemen remains a cauldron of violence, chaos, and humanitarian crisis conditions from the US\/Saudi-imposed blockade. An entire country under siege is on the brink of collapse.

A US-planned and orchestrated terror campaign affects millions of Yemenis. Many more than already slaughtered may perish.

Endless direct and proxy dirty wars of aggression without mercy are a US specialty. Mass murder is longstanding practice.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net<\/a>.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled \"Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.\"

http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanIII.html<\/a>

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. <\/p>\n","contact":"lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net","link":"sjlendman.blogspot.com","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Yemen","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2015\/05\/268069.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}