EU Parliament Adopts Resolution Calling for Arms Embargo against Saudi Arabia

The resolution calls for an EU-wide arms embargo against the country, until Saudi Arabia's breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen have been investigated.

"The European Parliament's call for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia is unprecedented and reflects growing frustration at the conduct of war in Yemen by the Saudi Air Force.

Saudi Arabia is a top arms client of Britain and France, and there is evidence that these weapons have been used in gross violations of international law in Yemen, where thousands of civilians have been killed since the start of the war in March 2015, Greens/EFA foreign affairs spokesman Alyn Smith, who led efforts to get the amendment passed, said following the resolution's adoption, Russia Today reported.

He added that there are "real grounds to believe that EU-made weapons systems are being exported to Saudi," and called on EU foreign policy high representative Federica Mogherini to investigate how an arms embargo can be implemented.

Saudi Arabia has been lobbying to MEPs in an effort to prevent an arms embargo. The Saudi ambassador to Brussels, Abdulrahman al-Ahmed, sent a letter to parliamentarians on Sunday in which he pleaded with them not to vote for the amendment and defended his country's military intervention in Yemen.

A UN panel set up to investigate the bombings in Yemen reported to the Security Council last month that it had uncovered "widespread and systematic attacks on civilian targets by Saudi Arabia."