France’s Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly issued a statement Thursday denying that any French weapons have at any time been used against civilians in the war in Yemen.
This is an important point because leaked intelligence showed that
French arms, including tanks, were being used in the Yemeni War by both
the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and have been used against civilians.
Parly’s argument that this was not the case appears not to be based on
anything beyond France not having any specific evidence that the arms
are being used in the way the intelligence shows.
This sort of conscious ignorance is the way a lot of foreign officials
justify arms sales to the Saudis given the humanitarian disaster the war
in Yemen has become, and the heavy arms purchases the Saudis continue
to make.
France Denies Their Weapons Were Used Against Civilians in Yemen
Intelligence shows Saudis, UAE both used weapons against civilians
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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