Canada reviews footage of destroyed and captured Canadian-made Saudi armoured vehicles

By DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN

The Canadian government says it is examining video footage which appears to show Canadian-made light armoured vehicles captured by rebels in Yemen.

Yemen's Houthi rebels released the footage Sunday of the aftermath of a battle with Saudi Arabian forces. The fighting started as an ambush inside Saudi Arabia but then turned into a major cross-border battle, according to the rebels. The footage of the battle was shown on Houthi-run Al Masirah TV and Al Jazeera.

Saudi Arabia has not acknowledged the fighting and the Houthi claims have not been independently verified. The footage shows the captured and destroyed light armoured vehicles as well as Saudi troops taken prisoner.

Over the years, Saudi Arabia has purchased light armoured vehicles from Canada's General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada in London, Ont. In 2014, the then Conservative government announced a deal worth an estimated $15 billion to sell Saudi Arabia more than 700 light armoured vehicles. That controversial deal was later approved by the Liberal government.

Besides the armoured vehicles, the video shows large amounts of captured small arms. It is not clear whether the Houthi forces took possession of some of the armoured vehicles or left them at the ambush site. Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree told Al Masirah TV that the captured soldiers were moved to “secure places.”

Doug Wilson-Hodge, spokesman for General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada, said the company is declining to comment on the footage.

Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Adam Austen said Friday that department officials are reviewing the footage. It is unclear what would be done after the footage is examined.

Austen also noted the government is reviewing all export permits to Saudi Arabia but no final decision has been taken. “During this review, no new permits have been issued,” Austen added.

A March 21, 2016 Global Affairs Canada memo released under the Access to Information law noted that officials in the department pushed for the sale of the light armoured vehicles to the Saudis despite concerns about human rights abuses and the possibility such equipment could be captured by rebels from Yemen. The memo pointed to the appearance of a Canadian-made LRT-3 sniper rifle photographed in the hands of a Houthi rebel in Yemen. More than 1,300 sniper rifles have been exported from Canada to the Saudi Arabian military and security forces, including several hundred of that particular model, the document added.

“Canada's Embassy in Riyadh assesses that this rifle, along with other Saudi military equipment, was likely captured from Saudi fighters by Houthi fighters during military operations along the Saudi-Yemeni border,” then Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion was told.

The Liberal government launched the review of the light armoured vehicle contract after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Earlier this year a United Nations report determined that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the killing of Khashoggi who was a critic of that country's regime.

A dozen organizations sent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a letter earlier in August, questioning the status of the review and pointing out that no updates on progress have been provided. The lack of such information has brought “the sincerity of the effort into question,” according to the letter endorsed by organizations such as Oxfam Canada and Amnesty International.

Relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia soured last year after the Canadian government called for the release of two jailed Saudi human rights activists.

The Saudis have also fallen behind in their payments for the light armoured vehicles received from General Dynamics. It was revealed in December that the Saudis owed Canada more than $1 billion for vehicles already delivered.

A Saudi-led coalition, which has been provided with arms and intelligence from the U.S. and other western nations, intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis overthrew the government. Saudi Arabia has faced severe criticism for its role in the ongoing war in Yemen, with allegations it has conducted unlawful airstrikes on civilians.

Screen shots below of light armoured vehicles were taken from the Houthi video aired Sunday:

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canada-reviews-footage-of-destroyed-and-captured-canadian-made-saudi-armoured-vehicles