America cancels the ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia

According to Webangah News quoted by Mehr News Agency, according to Reuters, the US State Department announced that the administration of President Joe Biden, after three years of adopting a policy of pressure on Saudi Arabia in order to end the war in Yemen, has decided to cancel the ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Riyadh.

A senior US official said the State Department has lifted a suspension on the transfer of some air-to-ground weapons to Saudi Arabia. In this regard, he added: We will consider the transfer of new shipments based on a specific process and in sync with the conventional arms transfer policy.

According to Reuters, the Biden administration last week raised the decision to lift the ban on arms sales to Riyadh with Congress. One of the Reuters sources said that the arms sales will probably start early next week.

According to the US Constitution, members of Congress must review major international arms agreements before they are finalized. According to Reuters, in recent years, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have questioned the conditional sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, citing issues such as the number of civilian victims in attacks on Yemen, as well as a set of human rights concerns.

A US government official told Reuters that since March 2022, when Saudi Arabia and Yemen entered into a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations, Saudi airstrikes on Yemen and towards Yemen’s attacks on Riyadh have largely stopped.