UK Flooding Middle East With Arms Leads to Weapons Falling Into Wrong Hands

Andrew Smith, a spokesman for Campaign Against Arms Trade said that One of the reasons ISIL is so well armed is because it has captured and obtained large quantities of Western arms that were originally sold to the Iraqi government.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The United Kingdom should stop flooding the Middle East with arms as they fall into the wrong hands, a spokesman for Campaign Against Arms Trade told Sputnik Monday.

The British newspaper The Independent reported on Friday that the United Kingdom's government could be prosecuted for war crimes after more evidence emerged of the use of UK-made missiles, sold to Saudi Arabia, against civilian targets in Yemen.

"There is no such thing as arms control in a war zone, once weapons have been sold there is no way of knowing where they will end up. One of the reasons ISIL is so well armed is because it has captured and obtained large quantities of Western arms that were originally sold to the Iraqi government. Countries like the UK need to stop flooding the region with arms," Andrew Smith said.

Last week, watchdogs Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported that a UK-made missile was used by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to destroy a Yemeni ceramics factory, not involved in any military activity, in September. One civilian died as a result of the attack.

"UK fighter jets and UK bombs have been central to the Saudi bombing campaign. The UK's failure to even condemn the attacks is a sign of how much influence Saudi has over foreign policy," Smith said.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government and the Houthi opposition movement, supported by army units loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Since March, a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi positions at request of current Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.