French companies arming Saudi forces in Yemen conflict: Report

Certain French companies are allegedly training Saudi soldiers in mission-critical skills used to kill Yemeni civilians during the horrific conflict taking place in the country, according to a report.

On Monday, Yemen's Al-Masirah television network cited a joint report by EUobserver, Lighthouse Reports, Arte and Mediapart, that the French state-owned DCI Groupe is conducting extensive artillery training for members of the Saudi Arabian National Guard at a military school in Draguignan, Southeastern France.

The report also revealed that the Thales Group, a French multinational corporation, and RUAG International, a Swiss aerospace and defense technology company, are training Saudi troops by offering advanced simulation equipment; which are required to operate self-propelled howitzers (a self-propelled high calibre gun) that could potentially target over half a million people in Yemen.

Al-Masirah cited another report by Disclose, a French non-profit investigative media body, which revealed that a cargo ship was expected to load ammunition of self-propelled howitzers, in addition of well over a hundred high calibre weapons being shipped to Saudi Arabia until 2023. 48 French-produced howitzers have already been dispatched across the Saudi-Yemen border since late 2018.

The collective reports cited a leaked internal document (from September 2018) from the DRM, France's military intelligence agency, which warned of the risks against civilians in Yemen posed by the deployment of howitzers, stating that “The population concerned by potential artillery fire: 436,370 people"; adding that this military hardware play a vital role in "[supporting] loyalist troops and Saudi armed forces in their progression into Yemeni territory".

The Civil War in Yemen has been ongoing since 2014, between the Saudi-backed government and the Houthi armed rebel movement (widely alleged to be backed by Iran), and despite a ceasefire agreement between the involved parties in 2019, the conflict continues to perpetuate - with over 112,000 people being killed, and 13 million Yemenis at risk of starvation and famine.