Yemen, US arms contractors on trial for "abetting" war crimes

WASHINGTON - American arms makers face a war crimes "abetting and aiding and abetting" lawsuit in Yemen, which is suffering a full-blown humanitarian crisis from an 8-year Saudi-led war of aggression. US defense contractors Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics are being sued by a group of seven Yemeni nationals for aiding and abetting war crimes and extrajudicial killings by selling weapons for use in the war against Yemen. The lawsuit, filed in the Washington DC District Court, also names the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman al Saud, and the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin as defendants. The lawsuit states: "Year after year, bombs fell on wedding tents, funeral homes, fishing boats and a school bus, killing thousands of civilians and helping to turn Yemen into the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Weapons supplied by US companies through illegally approved sales by US officials enabled Saudi Arabia and the UAE through named defendant officials to pursue an indiscriminate and brutal bombing campaign."