An Australian citizen is the commander of an elite UAE military force deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition, which human rights groups accuse of war crimes.

Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former senior Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE’s Presidential Guard.

The Presidential Guard is a unit of marines, reconnaissance, aviation, special forces and mechanised brigades, according to the US State Department website.

Hindmarsh oversaw the guard’s formation in early 2010 shortly after he took up his estimated $500,000-a-year, tax-free job in Abu Dhabi, where he reports directly to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

The Presidential Guard has been lauded for playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

The coalition was formed in March to push back the rebel Houthi movement, which Arab Gulf states view as being backed by regional rival Iran.

Presidential Guard troops have been in Yemen since 4 May, and were reported to have played a key role in the recapturing of port city Aden by local Hadi-allied forces on 17 July.

Human rights groups including Amnesty International have called for a suspension of arms exports to members of the Saudi-led coalition after reporting what they described as “damning evidence” of war crimes in Yemen. There is no evidence to suggest that Hindmarsh is responsible for the alleged war crimes claimed by rights groups.

At least 5,700 people – about half of them civilians – have been killed since the coalition launched its campaign. Yemen was already suffering a serious humanitarian crisis before the coalition's entry into the war; however, the country’s situation has since grown increasingly grave, with more than 80 percent of the population of 24.5 million needing humanitarian assistance.

It is not known how many Australians work for the UAE army; however, local media reported at the time of Hindmarsh's appointment that there were "dozens" working in "leadership, training and mentoring roles".

let me tell you a story about australian servicemen. i worked with an ex army guy once, and he used to tell everyone who would listen that kids who got maimed or killed in middle eastern wars got what was coming to them because "it was their own fault for living in a warzone"

one day a macedonian supervisor, who incidently fought in the balkans, overheard this and told the guy, you're a mercenary, you fight for nothing. and then had him sacked. in short, viva la yugoslavia.

Petrol posted:

You work with a bunch of former soldiers, huh. What are you, a Uber driver??

Just a little light humour to deflect from the fact that australia is satan

Ex soldiers generally seem to go first to the mines, then to dead end shitkicker jobs like mine. So I've worked with a few yeah. they've all been universally loathed by the other workers because they're al unbearable cunts