Italian and European weapons in Yemeni conflict

The next morning in Deir al-Hajar, the remains of a bomb and a hanging hook bearing the serial numbers and date of manufacture (June 2014) were found. These were remnants of a Paveway II bomb, one of the most modern weapons at the time.

Apparently, an emerging business model in the international arms industry is leading from the theatre of war to the holiday island of Sardinia, where Rheinmetall's subsidiary, RWM Italia, is supplying a global bomb supermarket as part of a nested system that includes lucrative deals.

A team of Italian and German journalists working across borders revealed the trade links between Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Italy that lie behind the bloody war in a country once belonging to the Queen of Sheba. 

Germany and Italy are not the only EU countries involved in these deliveries. There is a third player: Great Britain. As early as 2016, London was criticised in the European Parliament for being the main trading partner of the Wahhabi monarchy. According to data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), between 2012 and 2016, London was awarded around 27% of Saudi Arabia's growing contracts for military supplies.

The debate on the Riyadh embargo is ongoing and heated throughout Europe. Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands have banned the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. In Italy, the proposal was rejected in Montecitorio.  In Germany, despite the coalition government's promises of export restrictions, parliamentarians from Die Linke have denounced the fact that orders tripled in 2018, reaching 161.8 million euros. There is therefore a clear link between the increase in military supplies from Great Britain and Italy, and the war in Yemen.

Photo: Luke Macgregor/Bloomberg/Getty Images