The State Department announced Saturday that it was lifting a ban on sales of certain weapons to Saudi Arabia for three years, allowing about $750 million worth of bombs to be sold to the kingdom in the coming months.
“The deliveries include 3,000 small diameter bombs and 7,500 Paveway IV bombs, which had been on hold since President Biden halted shipments in 2021 due to Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen,” it said. The Wall Street Journal Reported on tuesday.
The ban was imposed at a time when the Biden administration was seeking to pressure the Saudis to scale back their long-running military involvement in Yemen’s civil war, where Iran-backed Houthi terrorists overthrew the legitimate government in 2014, sparking a civil war that did not subside until a UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022.
Saudi Arabia formed a coalition of Gulf states that intervened on behalf of the Yemeni government in 2015, but that war has proven just as brutal as the Houthi insurgency, whose actions are rarely covered by international media. War crimesThese include terrorism, mass murder, and the use of child soldiers, but the Saudi coalition has International pressure The bombing campaign caused excessive civilian casualties.
President Joe Biden Campaign Biden also railed against Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen in 2020, in addition to other human rights abuses, including the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Biden vowed to make the Saudis “pay a price” and make them “the pariahs they are meant to be.”
Those words stung Biden, who needed Saudi Arabia’s help to curb soaring gas prices in the U.S. He eventually reconciled public opinion against the Saudi royal family, Drop bomb Sanctions against the Houthis remain in place, but a bomb embargo imposed in 2021 in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen was only finally lifted.
State Department said The embargo will be lifted because “the Saudi Ministry of Defense has taken positive steps over the past three years to significantly improve its civilian harm mitigation process, thanks in part to the efforts of U.S. trainers and advisors.”
Jon Alterman, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said: journal that The ban on air-to-ground weapons was lifted “in reward for Saudi Arabia’s support on regional security issues, including but not limited to its openness to long-term normalization with Israel.”
Alterman also said the Biden administration wants to send a signal to the Houthis that “the gap between Saudi Arabia and the United States is becoming less” because of Houthi terror attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
“The Saudis have met their obligations under the agreement and we stand ready to meet our obligations and return these events to normal order through appropriate notification and consultation with Congress,” the official said.
The Saudi “end of the deal” included easing tensions in Yemen and taking greater care to avoid civilian casualties in future conflicts. Intercept Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel in April.
of The Israel Times on monday Suggested Saudi Arabia is moving forward with securing a big deal if it normalizes ties with Israel: “U.S. security guarantees, continued arms supplies, and possibly a civil nuclear agreement.”
While some Democrats continue to complain about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, the Biden team is clearly seeking Saudi Arabia’s help in easing tensions in the Gaza Strip and addressing the Middle East’s powder keg problems.
“I supported the Biden Administration’s initial decision to suspend offensive arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and I look forward to seeing compelling evidence that Saudi Arabia has changed its behavior,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). of Times.
