BBC Investigation: UAE Funded Political Assassinations in Yemen
The Facts
A new BBC investigation has found that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — a key partner of the Western-backed and Saudi-led international coalition against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels — has funded more than 100 politically-motivated assassinations in Yemen over a three-year period starting in 2015.
This comes as a documentary from BBC Arabic, American Mercenaries: Killing in Yemen, which was set to be aired on BBC 2 on Tuesday night, narrates how the US-based private military Spear Operations Group was hired to carry out targeted killings and train the Emirati-backed Southern Transition Council.
The Spin
Narrative A
Though this investigation has just been released, its claims are all too similar to others made in the past which have already been proved false and politically motivated. Should any credible allegations of wrongdoing in its counter-terrorism operations ever come to light, the UAE will rigorously investigate them. However, there will be no need given the lack of credibility to these allegations, once again.
Narrative B
This new BBC documentary confirms what several other investigations have found over the past years — that the UAE has indeed hired mercenaries to carry out high-profile political killings in Yemen and advance its geopolitical ambitions in the Middle East. It's disturbing that the UAE still denies its actions when all evidence points to the contrary.
