David Cameron has praised British arms companies that have done business with Saudi Arabia – hours after the European Parliament voted for an arms trade embargo with the Kingdom.
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Saudi officials believe Iran’s intervention likely led to a European parliament vote on an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
“This decision affirms that Saudi Arabia, in its aggression on Yemen, violates the humanitarian laws and global mores and intentionally targets civilians, infrastructure and vital installations under the USA cover and support”, he said.
Andy Wigmore, Leave.EU’s head of communications, said the MEP behind the motion betrayed “an extraordinarily careless attitude”.
Speaking at a BAE Systems factory in Preston, the prime minister said the United Kingdom had pushed the sale of Eurofighter Typhoons to countries in the Middle East, including Oman and Saudi Arabia. Lebanon has been an arena for that struggle for the last decade during which Saudi Arabia’s Lebanese allies have struggled to confront the growing power of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama issued statements on Tuesday 23rd February calling on their citizens not to travel to Lebanon, following tensions over the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah which is fighting to support Syria’s regime.
The EU resolution is not binding on Mogherini or the EU member states, but the vote caught the attention of the Saudi government.
On the other hand, a number of politicians and ministers kept arriving at the Saudi embassy in Lebanon, to meet the ambassador Ali Awad Assiri and express their solidarity. “The human rights violations have reached a level that means Europe is obliged to act and to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia”, Richard Howitt, a British lawmaker who led efforts to hold the vote, told the newswire.
An worldwide coalition of 100 aid and rights organizations on Friday urged Western countries to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia for its extensive air campaign against Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen.
However, any European Union embargo would go against US President Barack Obama’s policy of bolstering US military support for Saudi Arabia after Washington brokered a deal with regional rival Iran past year to curtail Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Yemen has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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Assiri said the Kingdom has only warned against travel to the Arab country and has not imposed a ban, the envoy said in an interview with the Arabic website for Al Arabiya News Channel.
