UAE invloved in target killings of Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood members, BBC revealed

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) funded politically motivated targeted killings of Islah (Yemeni Muslim Brotherhoo) in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found.

The United Arab Emirates hired the assassins, trained by American mercenaries for counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).

However, the targeted assasinations in Yemen were not terror related but purely political. The UAE government refuted to evidences found in the BBC investigative report.

In 2015, the US and the UK supported a coalition of mostly Arab states led by Saudi Arabia – with the UAE as a key partner – to fight Houthis.

It is learnt, in the three years period of 2015 – 2108, that over 160 Yeminis were targetedly killed from the UAE backed assassins.

Only 23 of the 160 people killed had links to terrorism. The majority of those assassinated were members of Islah – the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islah was never assigned as a terror organisation from US, but is banned in several Arab countries – including the UAE where its political activism and support for elections is seen by the country’s royal family as a threat to their rule.

The UAE formed Southern Transitional Council (STC) a paramilitary force for operating in southern Yemen for conducting assassinations.

Despite American aim to eliminate the jihadist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) in southern Yemen, the UAE recruited former al-Qaeda members in assasination squad for its political opponent Islah.