Arms supplied by US, Britain continue to fuel Yemen's long conflict: Report

Arms supplied by the US and Britain continues to fuel Yemen's years-long civil war, killing and injuring many civilians, an investigation report released by charity organisation Oxfam revealed.

According to the organisation, during a 14-month period, weapons supplied by the US and Britain killed 87 civilians and wounded 136 others across Yemen, Xinhua news agency reported.

Oxfam's report on Wednesday said that "hundreds of attacks on civilians in Yemen" were carried out between January 2021 and February 2022 with weapons supplied by the two Western countries.

The 43-page report pointed out that there was evidence that airstrikes and artillery attacks contained cluster munitions, which are prohibited under international conventions and customary law.

The report urged the two countries to stop supplying arms for Yemen's eight-year-long conflict, confirming that 13 airstrikes carried out by British or American-made jets had taken place on hospitals and clinics in Yemen.

Various regions in Yemen are currently witnessing sporadic armed confrontations between Yemen's government force and the Houthi militia three months after the expiration of a humanitarian cease-fire brokered by the UN.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 and the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced four million, and pushed the country to the brink of starvation.

--IANS

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