Iran Press/ Middle East: When the Pentagon announced last November that it was ceasing aerial refueling of Saudi-led coalition aircraft operating in Yemen, the move appeared to be a major step back from US support for the war there. But newly obtained documents reveal that the United States has also been training the so-called coalition military personnel from the United Arab Emirates for the air war in Yemen.
The documents underscore the continuing frustrations for critics of the war, including those in US Congress, over the lack of transparency around US military support for a war that has killed thousands of civilians and pushed the country to the brink of famine, reported Yahoo News.
The United States is “not a participant in the civil war in Yemen nor are we supporting one side or the other,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month, echoing a long-held position in the Pentagon.
But official Air Force documents obtained by Yahoo News show that the US military has been even more deeply involved in that war than previously indicated. Despite unambiguous claims by the US military to the contrary, the United States has trained members of the Saudi-led coalition, specifically, according to the files, “for combat operations in Yemen.”
The files, obtained from Air Forces Central Command via the Freedom of Information Act, appear to tell a different story. “Escorted 6 UAE F-16s to RED FLAG” — reads a December 2017 Air Force document referring to an advanced aerial combat training exercise held for US and allied pilots — “assisted 150 airmen in challenging ex[ercise] to prepare for combat ops in Yemen.” The document goes on to detail additional support provided by the US Air Force’s Air Warfare Center at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. “Unit fighter personnel advanced the UAE’s F-16 fighter pilot training program; 3 pilots flew 243 instructor sorties/323 hrs that created 4 new instructors & 29 combat wingmen who immediately deployed for combat operations in Yemen.”
According to William Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center? ?for? ?International? ?Policy, “Training pilots who go on to bomb civilian targets in Yemen is yet another US form of complicity in a brutal war that has gone on for far too long." “If the Trump administration is serious about getting Saudi Arabia and the UAE to negotiate in good faith for peace in Yemen, they should cut off training and other forms of military support until they play their part in ending the war.”, he continued.
Despite those documents, the Pentagon continues to insist that the training is not part of the Yemen war.
A report by the United Nations Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen determined that at least 16,706 civilians have been killed or wounded as of August 2018, although it noted that “The real figures are likely to be significantly higher.” Saudi-led coalition air strikes, which have hit residential areas, “have caused most of the documented civilian casualties,” according to the report.
While US support for Saudi Arabia has garnered headlines, US assistance to the UAE has received far less press coverage. Since 2009, however, the United States has made offers of close to $30 billion worth of weaponry to the UAE under the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales, including about $7.2 billion in bombs and missiles.
“The UAE’s role is often overlooked, but they, and the militias they train, arm and finance, have been implicated in widespread human rights abuses, including torture,” the Center? ?for? ?International? ?Policy’s Hartung told Yahoo News. “The UAE is a least as responsible as Saudi Arabia for the slaughter in Yemen, but it has not been held responsible for its actions in any significant way.”
Between 2000 and 2013, the UAE purchased 110 F-16 combat aircraft, including 30 with standoff air-to-ground munitions. Late last year, Lockheed Martin and the UAE agreed on a $1.6 billion upgrade to its original 80 F-16s. “All partner-nation pilots flying aircraft purchased from the US receive their training in the US,” Brown, the CENTCOM spokesperson, told Yahoo News.
Not all training, however, occurs in the United States. American personnel at the Air Warfare Center at Al Dhafra Air Base provided significant assistance to forces in the UAE, according to the documents Yahoo News obtained, and was even recognized for efforts that took place during 2016 and 2017.
Last November, Saudi Arabia and the United States agreed to end US refueling of aircraft from the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition. The change from US to coalition capabilities, however, was not seen as significant, since only one-fifth of coalition aircraft reportedly required in-air refueling from the United States. Nor did this decision affect broader US assistance, specifically the training of pilots.
Earlier on December 13, the Senate voted to begin debate on a measure that would end US military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
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