Five years of arms deals worth £4.7bn: Britain’s role in a war that has killed nearly 100,000

Analysis: The government now must make the case that there is ‘no clear risk’ of UK weapons being used to commit war crimes in Yemen

It’s probably not a stretch to say that most Britons would struggle to find Yemen on a map. And yet for almost five years our government has played a major role in a deadly conflict that has cost tens of thousands of Yemeni lives.

British bombs, missiles, planes and helicopters have been central to a military campaign that has contributed to what the UN has described as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.

Campaigners have long argued that continuing to grant export licences for weapons sales to Saudi Arabia was illegal due to the clear risk that the arms might be used in violation of international humanitarian law.