FRENCH weapons are being used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, said a classified note revealed by French media today that contradicts Paris’ claims.

The note from the French military intelligence service, published by investigative media outlet Disclose, concluded that the UAE and Saudi Arabia deployed French weaponry, from artillery to ships, in their war against Huthi rebels.

Under pressure from rights groups in France over the sales, the government has always insisted that French arms are used only in defensive circumstances to deter attacks by Huthis.

France, the third-biggest arms exporter in the world, counts Saudi Arabia and the UAE as loyal clients in the Middle East, its biggest regional market in 2017.

Those two countries intervened in 2015 to support the Yemeni government against Huthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, in a war that has left some 10,000 dead and pushed millions to the brink of starvation.

The United Nations calls the situation in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Artillery, tanks, ships, helicopters

The classified note – provided to the French government last October, according to Disclose – said 48 Caesar artillery guns manufactured by the Nexter group are being used along the Saudi-Yemen border.

Leclerc tanks, sold in the 1990s to the UAE, have also been used, as have Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, while French missile-guiding technology, called Damocles, might have been deployed, said the assessment.

Cougar transport helicopters and the A330 MRTT refuelling plane have also seen action, and two French ships are serving in the blockade of Yemeni ports that has led to food and medical shortages, said the DRM military intelligence agency.

Asked for comment by AFP, the French government said: “To our knowledge, the French weapons owned by members of the coalition are for the most part in defensive positions, outside Yemen or in military bases, not on the front line.”

Disclose is a new investigative portal working in partnership with established media companies, including public broadcaster France Info, online brand Mediapart and Franco-German television channel Arte. – AFP, April 15, 2019.