A United Nations panel investigating the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen has uncovered “widespread and systematic” attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law, raising questions over UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the role of British military advisers.
The final 51-page report by a panel of experts on Yemen, which was sent to the UN security council last week but had not yet been published, has been obtained by the Guardian.
Read More
The Royal Navy rescued more than 1,000 migrants off the coast of Libya on Sunday, as HMS Bulwark, a 19,000-tonne assault ship, conducted five rescue missions, with two more continuing.
Helicopters spotted a number of migrant vessels – often in poor visibility – allowing boats from HMS Bulwark to get to them. The latest callout saw the use of all eight of the ship’s landing craft. Among the migrants rescued were at least 10 pregnant women.
Read More
Britain needs to play a greater role in the fight in Iraq against Islamic State, according to a scathing report published on Thursday by the cross-party Commons defence committee, which describes the UK contribution so far as “strikingly modest”.
Against a background of widespread public horror over Isis’s brutal murder of the Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh, MPs express dismay over Britain’s limited involvement and contrasts this position unfavourably with allies such as the US, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia.
Read More