Yemen: Since the declaration of the brutal US-Saudi aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015 from the US capital, Washington, Britain has been playing the role of the actual leader of the criminal aggression and has been present at the heart of the scene of its destruction plan.

In the aggression that destroyed more than 70% of the infrastructure and vital installations, and killed children and women, Britain played a military and intelligence role, and took over the management of military operations that targeted civilians, and worked to determine their coordinates and manage the operations of the aggressive air war.

To this day, Britain continues to conclude arms deals with the countries of the Saudi-Emirati aggression, as it did a lot in the war and brutal aggression against the country for seven years, which created the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. 

Arms deals

The British role in the aggression against Yemen was clear from the beginning through its selling huge deals of arms to the countries of the coalition of aggression, as the British newspaper (Daily Mail) described in November 2017 the role of London in the aggression against Yemen, and called it (the dirty war), confirming in a report that Britain used suspicious trade regulations to be able to export huge quantities of weapons to Saudi Arabia without being exposed.

In confirmation of this, Amnesty International revealed an official document proving Britain's involvement in committing humanitarian crimes in Yemen. The document obtained by the organization reveals that Britain exported remote control laser system bombs, and these bombs were used in the aerial bombardment of Yemen, explaining that the same bombs are being sold to the UAE.

For its part, the Guardian newspaper shed light on the British weapons involved in the war and aggression against Yemen, saying that bombs manufactured by Raytheon (Britain) and BAE Systems, which produces Paveway bombs, and Brimstone and Shadow Cruise missiles, and BAE Systems assembles the planes that drop these bombs on Yemen.

It explained that the arms and services sales to the Saudi army during the period between 2015 and 2019, including the period that witnessed the beginning of the Saudi aggression against Yemen in March 2015, amounted to over 15 billion pounds (about 19 billion US dollars).

It added that in September 2022, the Campaign Against the Anti-War Arms Trade estimated that since March 2015, the British government had licensed at least £23 billion worth of arms to Saudi aggression.

The arms deals come within the framework of a series of formal agreements between Britain and the Saudi governments since 1973. The British Ministry of Defense and its contractors provide not only military equipment, but also “human software”, as there are about 7,000 British civil servants and seconded Royal Air Force personnel to advise, train, and manage British-supplied combat aircraft and other military equipment.

It is known that Britain was and still is a source of armament and support for Saudi Arabia since its birth and extended control over most parts of the Arabian Peninsula in the 1920s. 

And despite the Americans assuming the hegemony over the Kingdom of Al Saud after the decline of the British Empire in the fifties of the last century, they have always allowed London to keep arming, protecting the authority there, establishing, training and developing the forces of the so-called “National Guard” dedicated to protecting the House of Saud from coups. Since the sixties, the British have taken over supplying the Saudi Air Force with most of its jet fighters, including those in the famous Al-Yamamah deal.

The Tornado and Typhoon planes sold by Britain to Saudi Arabia carry out most of the daily sorties to bomb Yemen.
Military and intelligence

The specialized British military cadres, especially those affiliated with the British Royal Air Force, who were in charge of working directly, were always present within the Saudi Military Command and Control Operations Center to determine the bank of bombing targets, the nature of the missions, and the weapons that would be used in them.

All of this simply means that the aerial part of the aggression against Yemen is completely assumed by Britain: (warplanes, missiles, management of operations, maintenance, training and implementation, and perhaps even some fingers that fire missiles at Yemen sites).

Participation also includes software and consultants, who number about 6,300 experts and consultants from the British Royal Air Force who are in Saudi Arabia to provide advice and training, and work in Saudi military bases for the “maintenance of warplanes” that were used in the war.

The Guardian newspaper confirmed that British contractors carry out about 95% of the tasks necessary to engage in Saudi air operations in Yemen, indicating that this clear role in the airspace confirms that Britain is the one taking charge of the air battle, which left tens of thousands of civilian casualties, to death. 

In late November 2017, the British newspaper "Daily Mail" revealed, in a report, the British role in the aggression against Yemen, as it confirmed that the British army is secretly supervising the training of Saudi forces, under the name of Operation "Crosswise", (Operation Crossroads) which were revealed after the British army published pictures and information by mistake.

Operation Crosswise included the involvement of more than 50 British soldiers in training Saudi military personnel in war and combat skills, including members of the Second Battalion of the Royal Scottish Regiment, and their task was to teach techniques Irregular warfare for officers of the Royal Saudi Land Forces Infantry Institute.

The “Daily Mail” indicates that the exposure of this operation came by mistake, when a summary and pictures were published on the Scottish Regiment’s website on the social networking site Facebook, in which a British trainer appeared standing in front of a map of Yemen explaining a possible attack strategy, explaining that the British Ministry of Defense realized the matter and after 20 minutes removed the pictures.

The newspaper added, "Britain not only supports the aggression with weapons, but also sends soldiers and individuals to transfer the necessary expertise to continue the war. 

The newspaper added that the British company that obtained a government contract to supply weapons to Saudi Arabia is working on assembling planes that drop bombs during the aggression.

Direct military presence
Regarding the direct military interventions of the British forces and their presence in Yemen, reports have shown that Britain is working to increase its military presence in Yemen directly, along with the tools and mercenaries it uses, stressing that there is a large influx of British forces into Al-Mahra Governorate.

In confirmation of this, the British announcement that a merchant ship was attacked off the port of Nishtun in Al-Mahra carried many indications of a new international plan targeting this strategic province, amid information about international trends to transform Al-Ghaydah Airport, which has become a closed military base for the Saudi, American and British forces.

In the context, Al-Mahra Governorate recently witnessed the arrival of British and American forces at Al-Ghaydah Airport, and local sources stated that the British forces joined previous forces present there, and Britain used press leaks familiar from the Kingdom to justify the presence of its special forces in Al-Mahra. And that is under the pretext of arresting the attackers of the Israeli tanker “Mercer Street” in the Gulf of Oman.

In the same context, other spy teams affiliated with it are spying on communications, through a number of ships via the submarine cable off the Al-Ghaydah area.

In the same regard, the British forces have begun, in the past few days, new arrangements to expand their influence in Al-Mahra governorate, as they are supervising a training process for a number of mercenaries of the Transitional Council, within their military bases at Al-Ghaydah Airport.

A diplomatic role

With regard to the British intervention in the diplomatic and aggressive war against Yemen, in its various forms, that role is evident through the Security Council, which has become clear that Britain is the drafter of decisions related to Yemen. It was the author of the United Nations resolution that placed Yemen under Chapter VII, so the Security Council serves in the first place the interests of the five permanent members, especially the US, Britain and France.

Britain is an essential partner in the aggression against Yemen. It has tried to influence Berlin to reverse the decision to prevent supplying Saudi Arabia with weapons. As the German magazine Der Spiegel revealed great British concern about the impact of the German decision on the British and European defense industries sector. Tornado, one of the most prominent aircraft used to kill civilians in Yemen.

Written by Abbas Al-Qaedy translated by Almasirah English website