After the Khashoggi incident, France didn't stop arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
From 2008 to 2017, Saudi Arabia was the second biggest purchaser of French arms, with deals totaling more than 11 billion euros ($12.6 billion), French defense ministry data shows. In 2017 alone, licenses potentially worth 14.7 billion euros to Saudi were approved.
Investigative website Disclose published leaked intelligence about French arms including tanks and laser-guided missile systems sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are being used in the Yemeni war against civilians.
Entitled “Yemen: security situation”, a 15-page classified report written by France’s DRM military intelligence agency includes maps that detail the positioning of French-made weapons inside Yemen and on the Saudi side of the border.
It demonstrates that swathes of Yemen’s population lives under the threat of the French-made arms, according to Disclose. French governmental officials highly opposed shown facts.
“To my knowledge, French weapons are not being used in any offensive in the war in Yemen. I do not have any evidence that would lead me to believe that French arms are behind the origins of civilian victims in Yemen,” France’s armed forces minister Florence Parly told Radio Classique on Thursday.