Houthi militiamen stand guard as Houthi supporters rally during a religious ceremony in Sana’a, Yemen, August 29, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/YAHYA ARHAB

After Human Rights Watch on Sunday appealed for a stop to weapons exports to Saudi Arabia following last month’s airstrike in Yemen that killed at least 26 children and wounded at least 19, new pictures show Serbian-made weapons being used in the conflict in Yemen.

In recent months, Serbian weapons have been spotted on both sides in Yemen conflict – in the hands of Saudi-backed fighters and with the Houthi troops – although Serbia officially does not export arms to UN-embargoed Yemen.

A picture posted on September 2 by the Yemen Observer Twitter account shows Serbian Zastava M93 anti-material rifle in the hands of Houthi fighter.

Serbian Zastava M93 anti-material rifle in the hands of Houthi fighter. pic.twitter.com/91lblsWExS — Yemen Observer (@YemeniObserv) September 2, 2018

Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition against the Houthis, who control Yemen’s north including the capital Sanaa, in a three-year conflict, which according to Reuters reports is widely seen as a proxy battle between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Human Rights Watch on Sunday issued a press release in which it called on countries to immediately halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and support strengthening a United Nations independent inquiry into violations by all parties in Yemen’s armed conflict.

“Since the Yemen conflict escalated in March 2015, numerous coalition airstrikes have been carried out in violation of the laws of war without adequate follow-up investigations, placing arms suppliers at risk of complicity in war crimes,” the press release said.

Human Rights Watch called the August 9 Saudi-led coalition airstrike that killed at least 26 children and wounded at least 19 more in or near a school bus in the busy market of Dhahyan, in northern Yemen, “an apparent war crime”.

The use of Serbian-made weapons in Yemen has been highlighted in other pictures posted on social networks.

In a post in August, a Yemeni soldier with a Serbian Zastava M93 rifle is allegedly seen.

Yemeni soldier with a serbian zastava M93 anti material rifle. also since im pretty sure theyre going to be using all the same weapons SDF and rebels in syria use, ive been seeing these technicals pop up around Yemen so looks like its the Polish ZM Tarnow Zu-23-2CP pic.twitter.com/BvT1emqpMq — Lost Weapons (@LostWeapons) August 20, 2018

In July, another Twitter user posted what he said was a picture of a Saudi-backed Yemeni Army fighter holding a Zastava M05 rifle.

Many Saudi-backed Yemeni Army fighters in Saada Governorate appear to have been re-equipped with newly-purchased Serbian Zastava M05 E1/2 7.62x39mm rifles. pic.twitter.com/zSll3wOTIN — Rufus McDonald (@Rufus_McDonald) July 2, 2018

BIRN could not independently verify these pictures, but has reported extensively on the lucrative arms trade that has developed between Balkan countries and Saudi Arabia, which systematically diverts the weapons to militias in Syria and Yemen.

In May 2015, several Yemeni news websites published footage and photos of ammunition they claimed had been airdropped by the Saudi-led military coalition to its proxies in Yemen.

Pictures and videos provided to BIRN by the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism clearly show ammunition boxes attached to parachutes. Markings on these boxes revealed their contents as 60mm mortar shells produced in the state-owned Serbian factory Krusik in 2012.

Krusik said it had sold that particular lot to Zastava, another Serbian state-owned arms factory.

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