Bahrain Mirror: The Former British business secretary Vince Cable announced in an interview published on Saturday, November 5, 2016 that he was misled by the British Ministry of Defence to agree on exporting missiles to Saudi Arabia.

The former business secretary Vince Cable has told the Guardian he was given specific assurances by the MoD about oversight of potential targets.

Cable, who took over the ministry from 2010 until 2015 and was therefore responsible for the issuing of export licenses, explained that he held up a deal for a consignment of laser-guided Paveway IV missiles, which he had blocked amid concerns about civilian deaths.

He added that he resigned the deal the MOD assured him that Riyadh cannot use these rockets only after consultation with London on the objectives that will be bombed.

However, the MoD has told the Guardian it has no military personnel in the "targeting chain", and has denied ever offering Cable such assurances last year.

Cable said: "That is categorically contrary to what I was told was going to happen."

If what they are now saying [is] I was not offered oversight on an equivalent level to the Americans, and that this would involve oversight of targeting, then I was seriously misled.

"That is total fabrication because that was very specifically stated. That is not something that I would have made up," he stressed

"My very clear understanding was that the equipment would be supplied to Saudi Arabia on the very clear basis that British personnel would have oversight of what the Saudi air force was doing, on the same basis as the Americans," Cable said.

But the Ministry of Defence refuted what Cable said, noting that it had already agreed last year to "increase the oversight on the targeting process," but this does not include the oversight of the same targeting.

A spokesman for the ministry said: "British personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or selecting targets and are not involved in the Saudi targeting decision-making process."

The Saudi-led coalition that has been launching a massive air campaign against Houthis and their allies in Yemen have been repeatedly accused of targeting civilian sites. The Arab coalition battling Houthi fighters in Yemen has admitted one of its warplanes had "wrongly targeted" on October 8 a funeral in Sanaa that killed more than 140 people, and announced disciplinary proceedings, according to the UN.

Britain started discussing with some of its partners in the UN Security Council a draft resolution calling for a new truce in Yemen and the resumption of negotiations on the basis of the peace plan proposed by the United Nations.

Arabic Version