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The civil war in the small, Middle East country of Yemen is already the cause of a humanitarian catastrophe. It's a bewilderingly complex conflict that's drawn in the militaries of virtually every state in the region.

And now, it seems, it has drawn in Canada too.

A Yemeni boy checks the damage following a mortar shell attack on the southern city of Taez, Feb. 3, 2016, as clashes between fighters from the Popular Resistance Committees, loyal to Yemen's fugitive president and Shiite Huthi rebels continue. (Ahmad Al-Basha/AFP/Getty Images)

Canadian-made rifles have shown up in the hands of the Houthi rebels, as they take on the pro-government forces there. Experts believe the riles, among them an LRT-3 sniper rifle, are made by a Winnipeg-based company, PGW Defence Technologies. And they were first spotted in photos and videos emerging from the area.

There is an obligation on the part of the Canadian government, once they authorize arms transfers, to make sure that they don't get diverted into the wrong hands. - Ken Epps, former policy advisor on the Arms Trade Treaty at Project Ploughshares

The most likely explanation is that they were exported legally to Saudi Arabia. And their appearance in Yemen raises new concerns about Canadian arms companies doing business with the kingdom.

CBC's Nahlah Ayed brings us the story.



This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien.