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Written question asked by Stephen Doughty (Labour) on Monday, 17 October 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 October 2016 (named day). It was answered by Michael Fallon (Conservative) on Thursday, 20 October 2016 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) training and (b) specific operational advice has been provided to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on (i) political authorisation of military operations, (ii) targeting of aerial operations and (iii) after-action reviews on operations in Yemen in the last 12 months.

Answer

As part of our ongoing Defence engagement with Saudi Arabia the UK has provided training to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) both in the UK and in Saudi Arabia, including International Targeting courses for RSAF personnel, to improve their targeting processes and to support International Humanitarian Law (IHL) compliance.

The UK has supported the development of the coalition Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) and delivered two training sessions in Saudi Arabia on the process for investigating alleged IHL violations. The UK has not been directly involved in investigations undertaken by the JIAT, has not provided any specific operational advice to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for operations in Yemen and has not provided training on political authorisation of military operations.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
49029
Session
2016-17
Subjects
Saudi Arabia Yemen Military intervention Military aid
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk