Yemen’s Houthi Leader Hails Belgian Ban on Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Chairman of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee praised Belgium State Council’s ruling to stop the country’s weapon manufacturers from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, which has kept a military campaign against Yemen in place since March 2015.
In comments on Sunday, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi lauded the Belgian court’s ban on arms sale to the Arab kingdom as a “positive measure,” according to Al Mayadeen TV.
The Houthi leader also likened the ban to a “political slap in Saudi Arabia’s face.”
His comments came after Belgium’s State Council suspended eight licenses for the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia by the country’s leading weapons manufacturer FN Herstal.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia purchased 153 million euros worth of arms from the Belgian arms maker, according to the news agency Belga.
In December 2017, the Belgian Human Rights League and the National Peace and Democracy Coordination Center, backed by Amnesty International, appealed to the State Council to annul licenses for the export of lethal arms to the Al Saud regime.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Over 14,000 Yemenis, including women and children, have died in the deadly military campaign.
