Saudi Arabia uses US cluster munitions to bomb Yemen

Photo: AP photo

Saudi Arabia uses US-supplied cluster munitions in the operation to bomb the positions of Yemeni rebels. The use of such munitions comes as a violation of an international arms treaty, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.

According to the group, there is "credible evidence" that cluster bombs have been used in recent weeks as part of coalition airstrikes in Yemen's northern Saada governorate, a Houthi stronghold that borders Saudi Arabia.

Also read: Yemen: Moscow responds to oil blackmail

According to the HRW, the weapons landed on a "cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of several dozen buildings in four to six village clusters."

Cluster bombs pose a long-term threat to civilians. The bombs are designed to explode after spreading over a wide area. The submunitions may often turn into land mines as they do not explode on the ground, Pravda.Ru reports. 

Over one hundred countries banning the use of cluster munitions under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. However, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen abstained from signing the document, Pravda.Ru says. 

Also read: Saudi Arabia needs more executioners

According to a U.S. Defense Department contract, Saudi Arabia purchased 1,300 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed cluster munitions from Textron Defense Systems, which is based in Wilmington, Mass. The shipment was meant to be completed by December 2015. Additionally, the UAE received an unknown number of CBU-105 from Textron Defense Systems in June 2010, HRW reports.

Pravda.Ru 

Source: EntryNews.com