Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has released a fresh collection of 500 internal documents allegedly from the United States embassy in Sana’a, the largest city in Yemen, consisting of 200 emails and 300 PDFs detailing military operations prior to the war in the region.
The documents, dubbed The Yemen Files, include official emails and messages from the Office for Military Cooperation (OMC) – a US government-backed entity based in the embassy that allegedly helped security forces in the region to improve counter-terrorism abilities.
The leak, the source of which remains unknown, spans 2009 to March 2015 – just prior to the war breaking out in Yemen. In a statement, WikiLeaks noted it covers both Hillary Clinton’s term as Secretary of State (2009-2013) and the first two years of Secretary John Kerry’s tenure.
Documents of interest, highlighted by WikiLeaks, appear to show Yemeni procurement of US aircraft, vehicles and biometric systems. “I look forward to building strong, fruitful, and mutually beneficial relations between our armed forces,” said letters signed by US Colonel Randolph Rosin.
WikiLeaks said the files show evidence of the US “arming, training and funding” Yemeni forces in the years leading up to the war, which has claimed the lives of over 7,000 people and injured 35,000 more – the majority in air strikes from a coalition of forces led by Saudi Arabia.
The ongoing conflict in Yemen is between forces from the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement. The war has caused a dire humanitarian disaster with roughly 80% of the population now in need of urgent aid.
