Campaigners call on UK government to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia

Campaign groups called on the UK government to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the wake of ongoing human right abuses being carried out in the war in Yemen.

UK based organisations Save the Children and Campaign Against Arm Trades said British arms used in air strikes in Yemen broke international humanitarian law, killing civilians and triggering a humanitarian catastrophe.

The statements of the rights organisations came the ahead of a judicial review that aims to halt the UK's multi-billion-pound arms trade to the country.

The historic case brought by the organisations will be heard at a high court in London over three days starting on Tuesday.

TRT World's Sarah Firth who is following the case in London has more.

The UK government sold 4 million dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia as well as providing military advice for the two-year war in Yemen.

More than 10,000 civilians, including 2,000 children have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to the UN.

Yemen fell into a civil war in late 2014 when the Houthis and allied forces of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh overran Sanaa and other provinces, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi's embattled government.