Academics and civil society organisations have urged the British government to stop refuelling Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft as fighting escalates in and around Yemen. They warn the support could make the United Kingdom complicit in further violations of international law. Their open letter says British military assistance risks fuelling a conflict in which the Saudi-led coalition has faced allegations of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The letter went to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. Its signatories said they were “deeply concerned” by the decision to refuel Saudi aircraft. “There is a real risk that further UK military support for Saudi Arabia will not achieve the desired outcome and could make the UK complicit in further war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law,” they wrote.
The Record Cited in Yemen
The Campaign Against Arms Trade, Action on Armed Violence, Shadow World Investigations UK and the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation signed the letter, alongside academics and specialists in international relations, human rights and international law. Academics and specialists from the universities of Oxford, Bristol, Westminster, Sussex, King’s College London, Warwick, Royal Holloway and Northumbria also signed.
The groups described British support for Saudi military action in Yemen as longstanding. Saudi action began in 2015, initially involving a coalition of Arab states. According to figures cited in the letter, the Yemen Data Project recorded 25,054 Saudi-led coalition air raids between 2015 and 2022.
The organisations said extensive evidence showed the air campaign had attacked civilians and civilian infrastructure. They also cited the air and sea blockade, economic collapse and ground fighting. The letter cited a United Nations Development Programme estimate that the conflict had killed 377,000 people directly and indirectly by the end of 2021. It also referred to allegations that the Saudi-led coalition used starvation as a weapon.
The signatories argued that the Saudi-led intervention had failed to defeat or dislodge the Houthis, who still control most of Yemen’s population. They also criticised Britain’s role in U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis in spring 2025, which the United Kingdom reportedly supported through refuelling. The letter cited a Pentagon assessment that the strikes between March and May 2025 “more likely than not” caused 281 civilian casualties.
Escalation and Calls for De-escalation
The letter sets the latest escalation against a wider regional crisis. It cited reports that fighting had displaced around 130,000 people in recent weeks and caused 110 casualties, including 28 deaths. Signatories also raised concerns about Houthi attacks and attempted attacks on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
They linked the latest escalation to developments inside Yemen, the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the war in Gaza. Past experience, the signatories said, showed airstrikes wouldn't defeat the Houthis or ease pressure on Saudi Arabia or global shipping routes. “Instead, the UK is only further fuelling the war and is risking complicity in further crimes,” they wrote.
The organisations called on the British government to stay out of Saudi military operations and pursue diplomacy. Citing what they described as Saudi Arabia’s extensive record of violations in Yemen, they urged the government to avoid further military involvement and focus on de-escalation. They argued diplomacy could offer a route towards peace in Yemen and help reduce the wider economic consequences of the region’s interconnected wars.