
According to rights groups, an estimated 8,983 civilians have been killed in over 25,000 airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen since 2015, many of which were carried out by UK-supplied military equipment

Between 2011-2020, the UK sold arms to 39 of the 53 countries with a poor record on human and political rights, as per US-funded rights group Freedom House. Similar findings were reported by the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)

The police crackdown on protesters using British-manufactured tear gas has led a UK-based campaign group to demand the review of sale of arms and riot/crowd control equipment to the Gulf state by the British government

The US military budget in 2020 alone was around USD 778 billion, which is almost 39% of the total global military expenditure and marked an increase by 4.4% from the previous year

The demand to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia has gained widespread support in the UK and across party lines in the parliament following Joe Biden’s announcement for the same last week