Britain’s Role In Yemen Conflict; From Selling Arms To Saudi Arabia To Backing Inflation Of Customs Tariffs In Yemen
Following centuries of embarking on colonialism, Britain turned to a multi-layered strategy, whose different aspects consist of a series of political and economic plots as well as the military occupation of islands and oil resources of other countries. They sell arms and provide rich Arab states with military services to fan the flame of war and bloodbath in weak nations, and they loot oil resources and wealth of a crisis-hit state under the pretense of a mediating and peacemaking power along with the United States and China. Yemen is an obvious example of the British colonial policy!
In the past decade, Britain was one of the most determining ultra-regional players in the crises and developments in the West Asia region. They have resorted to the crises in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and so on in line with their multilayered policy and actively intervened in that region. In the meantime, Yemen is of significant importance for the British rulers because of its key role in linking the waters of the Asia to Africa and Europe. They sold arms and provided Saudi Arabia and Iraq with military training by the use of exerting political pressures, misused diplomatic ties, and even played a mediator role in the early years of the conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria to pursue their own agenda silently. However, the policy changed in recent months and their military advisers played more active role in the region particularly in Yemen war.
What are Britain’s multifaceted policies?
– Political and Military Tools: Britain’s foreign policy is based on internationalism and contribution to allies or regional and ultra-regional powers, and it pursued the same policy in the face of the Yemen crisis. The Saudi-led coalition has time and again conducted air raids on Yemen’s cities by the use of Britain-manufactured arms, from the Euro Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets to different bombs and missiles in the war on Yemen. Furthermore, more than 280 military advisers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) are involved in training and assisting the Saudi military personnel in the Arab country. Britain continued the supports in spite of the violation of human rights (the manslaughter of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi) as well as the arms embargo by certain European states on Saudi Arabia; so, the cooperation turned the Saudi kingdom into the largest purchaser of Britain’s weaponries.
– Field Military Presence in Yemen: On the other hand, the British military advisers and diplomats are actively present in the usurped regions of Yemen in particular in Al Mahrah and Aden governorates, and they overtly make decisions or influence the internal affairs of the Arab country. One of the most crucial issues that occurred recently and Britain played a key role was the 50% hike of the customs tariffs for the import of commodities in ports that are under the control of the Saudi-led coalition. The decision has been seemingly taken by the Supreme Economic Council of the so-called resigned Yemeni government, and British Ambassador to Yemen Richard Oppenheim embraced and supported the decision. Obviously, the decision was a response to Ansar Allah movement’s measures in hindering the illegal export of Yemen’s oil and the movement’s stress on the payment of the salaries of all Yemeni employees during the negotiations mediated by Oman and the United Nations; and the Ansar Allah movement amplified the resigned government’s taxes in order to respond to the proposal of 50% discount for the import of commodities from Al Hudaydah Port. The consequences of the next measures of the two sides are not clear in the economic war, and possibly the rivalry would be extended to the confiscation of fuel tankers and even a naval confrontation.
– The Control of the Asian Waterways to Africa and Europe: Britain follows up an internationalist policy and cooperates an international coalition in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which is known as “153 forces”, to control the regional waters. They contribute to the occupation of the Yemeni islands (Socotra, Mayun, Abd al- Kuri and so on) in cooperation with the UAE in a bid to benefit from the collaboration. The contribution to the coalition and mutual collaborations provides them with the opportunity to respond to the Ansar Allah’s strikes from the western coast of Yemen and also hinder the Iranians’ infiltration and the dispatch of Iran’s aid to the Arab country.
Britain also enters into a deal with ultra-regional powers in a bid to advance the multi-layered policy. For instance, the resigned Yemeni government faced a strict budget deficit following Ansar Allah prevented illegal export of Yemen’s oil by resorting to three drone attacks on Al-Dhabbah and Qena ports on the southern shores of the Arab nation. The British ambassador started consultations with his Chinese counterpart Shao Zheng to finance the resigned government via the oil sale and supply Yemen with basic commodities. The British and Chinese sides displayed the talks as they were playing ping pong (referring to the ping pong diplomacy between the US and China in the 1970s) at China’s diplomatic mission in Aden Governorate.
As a whole, Britain is misusing and exploiting the crises created in the regional states particularly in the West Asia region through pursuing a multi-layered policy. The British policy-makers are fanning the flame of conflict by selling arms and dispatching military advisors to Arab countries, and they also loot the oil resources and wealth of a state under the pretext of being a mediating and peacemaking player. Britain’s actions in Yemen are a good instance of their dirty policy.
PS.
“Ping-pong diplomacy” is a meaningful phrase in politics, which refers to the secret negotiations between the United States and China in the 1970s which resulted in opening the U.S.-PRC relationship, leading the U.S. to lift the embargo against China and the normalization of relations.
Image: The presence of Ahmed bin Awad Mubarak, the foreign minister of the resigned government of Yemen, at the British Embassy in Yemen to offer condolences on the occasion of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
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