The UK has an appalling recent record of complicity in war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law against the people of Yemen. The Government’s decision to provide “defensive military support” as part of Saudi Arabia’s most recent assault creates an imminent danger of direct UK involvement in further atrocities, and must be immediately reversed.
The UN has estimated that the Saudi coalition’s war on Yemen from 2015 had killed 377,000 people by the end of 2021 through direct and indirect causes. Over 150,000 of these deaths were the direct result of the armed conflict, while far more have died due to hunger and disease as a result of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war. Nearly 15,000 civilians were killed by direct military action, and almost 9,000 of those casualties were brought by Saudi-led air strikes. As described by Yemeni organisation Mwatana for Human Rights,
“This state of affairs is not an arbitrary consequence of war. It is the direct result of how the conflict has been prosecuted…with utter disregard for international law and humanitarian norms.”
Many of the Saudi coalition’s air raids were conducted with UK-built aircraft and bombs. In addition to the supply of Paveway bombs and Brimstone and Stormshadow missiles, half of the Saudi air force used for the bombing campaign consisted of UK-supplied Eurofighter Typhoons. This fleet was utterly dependent upon the supply of spare parts and the continuous maintenance and support activity carried out by UK arms companies, and this support continued throughout the Saudi bombing campaign despite overwhelming evidence of repeated breaches of international humanitarian law by the coalition.
Between the start of the bombing in March 2015 and the truce in April 2022, there were £7.1bn worth of published arms sales licensed to Saudi Arabia alone, in addition to a further £2.4bn to Saudi coalition partners, particularly the UAE. This figure does not include the ongoing maintenance and support provided to the Saudi Air Force by BAE Systems, which is covered by unlimited, “open” licences issued by the government that do not carry a financial value and are subject to minimal transparency. Based on BAE Systems’ annual reports, the company received an estimated £20 billion in revenue from the Saudi military during the war from 2015-22. This is in addition to at least £4b worth of licences for bombs and missiles not produced by BAE.
Arms supplies to Saudi Arabia have not since slowed; £464.8m of arms exports were approved in the first quarter of 2026. This includes £462m in the category covering bombs, missiles, and countermeasures, including air-to-surface missiles, which were previously used in the bombing of Yemen. These missiles almost certainly account for the vast majority of this figure.
For more information, read CAAT’s fact sheet on UK arms to Saudi Arabia.
Instead of contributing to these alarming escalations, the UK should focus on humanitarian aid and supporting Yemeni reconstruction efforts. Indeed, the government should now demand that the arms companies that so handsomely profited from this bombing campaign support immediate humanitarian support and recovery efforts. Recent research from CAAT and the Transition Security Project found that BAE profited to the tune of £3.56b from arms sales to Saudi Arabia between 2015 and 2022, while Rolls Royce also made a very healthy total operating profit of £330m. [1]
Rather than allowing these companies to continue to act with impunity, we argue that windfall taxes should be levied on these profits, creating an urgently needed reparations payment. This would comfortably cover the current shortfall in humanitarian aid to Yemen and leave funds over to contribute to recovery and reconstruction efforts. This is where the government’s focus should be – not on fresh military support for Saudi Arabia and profits for arms companies.
Clearly, this most recent escalation brings the risk of further atrocities and violations of international humanitarian law into sharp focus. There is no prospect of resolution by military means; the UK must not repeat the clear, appalling mistakes it has already made and work towards de-escalating the situation immediately.
We call on the government to reverse its decision to militarily support the Saudi Air Force, and to urgently impose a full arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
[1] These estimates are calculated at 2026 prices. See CAAT and TSP’s recent report for more details.
