US to lift ban on offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia
Item
1 of 2 A member of Saudi security forces attends Abdullah's Sword
military drill as a jet flies by in Hafar Al-Batin, near the border with
Kuwait REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser/File Photo
[1/2]A
member of Saudi security forces attends Abdullah's Sword military drill
as a jet flies by in Hafar Al-Batin, near the border with Kuwait
REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights WASHINGTON,
Aug 9 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has decided to lift a ban on
U.S. sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, the State Department
said on Friday, reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure the
kingdom to wind down the Yemen war.
The
State Department was lifting its suspension on certain transfers of
air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia, a senior department official
confirmed. "We will consider new transfers on a typical case-by-case
basis consistent with the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy," the
official said.
Reuters was first to report the decision earlier, citing five sources.
The
administration briefed Congress this week on its decision to lift the
ban, a congressional aide said. One source said sales could resume as
early as next week. The U.S. government was moving ahead on Friday
afternoon with notifications about a sale, a person briefed on the
matter said.
"The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours," a senior Biden administration official said.
Under
U.S. law, major international weapons deals must be reviewed by members
of Congress before they are made final. Democratic and Republican
lawmakers have questioned the provision of offensive weapons to Saudi
Arabia in recent years, citing issues including the toll on civilians of
its campaign in Yemen and a range of human rights concerns.
But that opposition has softened amid turmoil in the Middle East following
Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel and because of changes in the conduct of the campaign in Yemen.
Since
March 2022 - when the Saudis and Houthis entered into a U.N.-led truce -
there have not been any Saudi airstrikes in Yemen and cross-border fire
from Yemen into the kingdom has largely stopped, the administration
official said.
"We
also note the positive steps that the Saudi Ministry of Defense have
taken over the past three years to substantially improve their civilian
harm mitigation processes, in part thanks to the work of U.S. trainers
and advisors," the State Department official said.
WARMER SAUDI TIES
Yemen's
war is seen as one of several proxy battles between Iran and Saudi
Arabia. The Houthis ousted a Saudi-backed government from Sanaa in late
2014 and have been at war against a Saudi-led military alliance since
2015, a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and
left 80% of Yemen's population dependent on humanitarian aid.
Biden
adopted the tougher stance on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in 2021,
citing the kingdom's campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen,
which has inflicted heavy civilian casualties.
Ties
between the kingdom and the United States have warmed since then, as
Washington has worked more closely with Riyadh in the aftermath of
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack to devise a plan for post-war Gaza.
The Biden administration also has been
negotiating
a defense pact and an agreement for civil nuclear cooperation with
Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisions Saudi Arabia normalizing
ties with Israel, although that remains an elusive goal.
The
decision comes as the threat level in the region has been heightened
since late last month, with Iran and Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed
Hezbollah group vowing to retaliate against Israel after Hamas' political chief
Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran.
The
Houthis have emerged as a strong supporter of the Palestinian Islamist
group Hamas in its war against Israel. Earlier this year, they attacked
commercial ships that they said are linked to Israel or bound for
Israeli ports.
Reporting
by Humeyra Pamuk, Patricia Zengerle and Steve Holland; additional
reporting by Mike Stone; editing by Michelle Nichols and Rod Nickel