US backing S Arabia’s ‘illegal war of aggression’ on Yemen: Lawyer

The United States in supporting Saudi Arabia’s “illegal war of aggression” against Yemen because such conflicts destabilize the Middle East and benefit the US arms industry, an international lawyer in Canada says.

Riyadh is attacking and destroying thousands of civilian targets in Yemen but Washington continues to provide arms to the Saudi military, breaking international and US domestic laws, Edward Corrigan told Press TV on Thursday.

Part of the problem is that American lawmakers in Congress have financial interest in supporting weapon sales because they have insider information about defense company stocks and can therefore make huge profits, Corrigan said.

“Something like 75 percent of Congressmen are heavily invested in the military industrial complex and you and I or anybody else would be put in jail if we had access to insider information," he added.

In various countries, trading based on insider information is illegal. This is because it is seen as unfair to other investors who do not have access to the information.

The administration of US President Barack Obama should not sell missiles to Saudi Arabia in the absence of serious investigations into laws-of-war violations in Yemen, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization said last week.

“The US government is well aware of the Saudi-led coalition’s indiscriminate air attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen since March,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.

“Providing the Saudis with more bombs under these circumstances is a recipe for greater civilian deaths, for which the US will be partially responsible,” he said.

On November 17, the US Defense Department said that the State Department has approved the sale of $1.29 billion worth of laser-guided bombs to the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia began its deadly military aggression against Yemen – without a UN mandate – on March 26. The strikes are meant to undermine the Ansarullah movement and restore power to Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Saudi aggression has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 7,100 people and injured nearly 14,000 others. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

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