[Peace] Intercept: Secret French report suggests Pentagon lying about scope of US role in Yemen

[Robert Naiman]

"And it suggests that U.S. assistance with Saudi targeting in Yemen may go
beyond what has previously been acknowledged."

"the French report suggests that U.S. drones may also be helping with Saudi
munitions targeting."

'A footnote after the word “targeting” specifies that the possible U.S.
“advice” refers to “targeting effectuated by American drones.”'

https://theintercept.com/2019/04/15/saudi-weapons-yemen-us-france/

SECRET REPORT REVEALS SAUDI INCOMPETENCE AND WIDESPREAD USE OF U.S. WEAPONS
IN YEMEN

Alex Emmons <https://theintercept.com/staff/alex-emmons/>

April 14 2019, 11:01 p.m.

SINCE THE BRUTAL murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor
Jamal Khashoggi last October, Congress has increasingly pressured the Trump
administration to stop backing the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in
Yemen and halt U.S. arms sales to Riyadh. In response, President Donald
Trump has repeatedly said that if the U.S. does not sell weapons to the
Saudis, they will turn to U.S. adversaries to supply their arsenals.
[...]
But a highly classified document produced by the French Directorate of
Military Intelligence shows that *Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
are overwhelmingly dependent on Western-produced weapon systems to wage
their devastating war in Yemen*. Many of the systems listed are only
compatible with munitions, spare parts, and communications systems produced
in NATO countries, meaning that the Saudis and UAE would have to replace
large portions of their arsenals to continue with Russian or Chinese
weapons.
[...]

*And the coalition blockade, *which is aimed at cutting off aid to the
Houthi rebels but has also* interfered with humanitarian aid shipments,
relies on U.S.,* French, and German models of attack ships with, as well as
two types of French naval helicopters.

The catalogue of weapon systems is just one revelation in the classified
report, which was obtained by the French investigative news organization
Disclose and is being published in full by The Intercept, Disclose, and
four other French media organizations. The report also harshly criticizes
Saudi military capabilities in Yemen, describing the Saudis as operating
“ineffectively” and characterizing their efforts to secure their border
with Yemen as “a failure.” *And it suggests that U.S.  assistance with
Saudi targeting in Yemen may go beyond what has previously been
acknowledged.*

Since the beginning of the war, the U.S. has backed the coalition bombing
campaign with weapons sales and, until recently, midair refueling support
for aircraft. But *the French report suggests that U.S. drones may also be
helping with Saudi munitions targeting.*

“If the RSAF benefits from American support, in the form of advice in the
field of targeting, the practice of Close Air Support (CAS) is recent and
appears poorly understood by these crews,” the document says. *A footnote
after the word “targeting” specifies that the possible U.S. “advice” refers
to “targeting effectuated by American drones.”*
Though the U.S. has denied engaging directly in hostilities against the
Houthis, *American MQ-9 Reaper drones – a reconnaissance drone with
hunt-and-kill capabilities – have flown over Houthi occupied territory.*
After the Houthis shot down one of the drones in October 2017, it led to
speculation
<https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2017/10/02/us-mq-9-drone-shot-down-in-yemen/>
that
the U.S. could be using them to collect intelligence for the Saudis. *Targeting
being effectuated by American drones could mean that U.S. drones play a
more active role in coalition targeting, like laser-sighting
precision-guided munitions drops, for example.*

[...]

The report opens with a discussion of the battle to retake Hodeidah, a port
city on the Red Sea and the entry point for most commercial goods and
humanitarian aid into Yemen. *The UAE predicted a decisive victory in
Hodeidah, where fighting began last summer.* But the intelligence report
assessed that the *“taking by force of [Hodeidah] appears still out of
reach” for UAE-backed militias*, despite their having nearly twice as many
forces on the ground as their adversaries at the time it was written.
However, the report notes them *slowly moving to encircle and besiege the
city* by trying to retake critical junctions on the road between Hodeidah
and Sana’a, the capital, which the Houthis control.

*Before the offensive began, humanitarian groups identified a protracted
siege
<https://theintercept.com/2018/06/16/yemen-foreign-policy-united-states/> as
a worst-case scenario because it could largely stop the flow of aid to some
of the regions of the country most in need.*

[...]
===

Robert Reuel Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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