Not The Onion

12350 readers

409 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

Links to news stories from...
...credible sources, with...
...their original headlines, that...
...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Comments must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

kescusay@lemmy.world

397

Yemen weapons dealers selling machine guns on X (www.bbc.com)

submitted 2 months ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

62 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Weapons dealers in Yemen are openly using the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to sell Kalashnikovs, pistols, grenades and grenade-launchers.

The traders operate in the capital Sana’a and other areas under control of the Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorists by the US and Australian governments.

The advertisements are mostly in Arabic and aimed primarily at Yemeni customers in a country where the number of guns is often said to outnumber the population by three to one.

The BBC has found several examples online, offering weapons at prices in both Yemeni and Saudi riyals.

The words beside the weapons are designed to lure in the buyers.

"Premium craftsmanship and top-notch warranty," says one advertisement. "The Yemeni-modified AK is your best choice."

A demonstration video, filmed at night, shows the seller blasting off a 30-round magazine on full automatic.

Another offers sand-coloured Pakistani-produced Glock pistols for around $900 each.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca -2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

You commented on air strikes but omitted the reason for the air strikes. I've corrected your omission.

Also from the article:

"It is inconceivable that they [the weapons dealers] are not operating on the Houthis’ behalf," said the former British Ambassador to Yemen, Edmund Fitton-Brown, who now works for the Counter Extremism Project.

Do you have any evidence to back up your claims that it's Yemeni civilians that are buying the weapons to protect themselves from the Houthis? The ambassador indicates the Houthis would shut down such activity.

What actual evidence do you have to support your claims?

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Your reading comprehension is so absurdly bad, that I got to believe you're either trolling, insane, or on a lot of Adderall. I'm out lol.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Did you even read the article we're discussing before insulting me about my reading comprehension? Or even the summary?

You can't seem to grasp why it's odd for you want to discuss anyone other than the Houthis in a discussion under an article that's about the Houthis potentially using Twitter to buy weapons.

I guess it's my bad for assuming you read the article.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You mean the first three paragraphs describing a few ads on Twitter for weapons?

Followed by the BBC, quoting other British "NGO" organizations, trying to rally people to support additional actions against a group that Britain currently engaged in military actions against? Yes, I read that as well.

The article reads like two separate articles pasted together by a moron. The only connective tissue between the Twitter ads, and the Houthis, was that the weapons traders lived an area controlled by them. News flash, the Houthis control a majority of the country.

So again, in a country that has had an active civil war since 2014, it's not surprising that people are selling weapons anywhere and everywhere, online, and off.