Donald Trump’s administration plans to authorise the sale of practically $500m in weapons to Saudi Arabia earlier than the US president leaves the White Home, US media retailers have reported, a transfer that one professional slammed as “an ethical outrage”.
Citing two unnamed sources aware of the problem, Bloomberg reported that the State Division notified Congress on Tuesday that it was shifting forward to difficulty a licence for the sale of precision-guided, air-to-ground munitions to Riyadh, estimated to be value $478m.
US weapons producer Raytheon Applied sciences Corp will have the ability to promote the weapons on to the Saudis when it receives the licence, Bloomberg stated.
The Washington Submit additionally reported that the weapons could be produced within the Gulf kingdom as per the phrases of the deal, which has been within the works since early 2019. The settlement additionally features a $97m inside safety communications system, the newspaper stated.
Information of the proposed sale, which Al Jazeera couldn’t independently verify, got here as Trump entered the ultimate weeks of his presidency.
The Republican chief has been a staunch supporter of Saudi Arabia, a longtime US ally, and the nation’s de facto chief, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, making robust US-Saudi relations a pillar of his administration’s Center East coverage.
Trump additionally personally shielded Crown Prince Mohammed, often known as MBS, from criticism about Saudi Arabia’s human rights report, the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the warfare in Yemen, amongst different contentious points.
Struggle in Yemen
The warfare in Yemen started in 2014 when Houthi rebels seized management of enormous swaths of the nation, together with the capital, Sanaa.
The battle escalated in 2015 after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates assembled a US-backed navy coalition in an try to revive the federal government of Riyadh-backed Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
US politicians have criticised Trump’s unwavering help for Riyadh and, particularly, the administration’s continued support to Saudi-led forces within the war-torn nation, which faces a dire humanitarian disaster.
Trump vetoed a invoice in Congress final 12 months looking for to finish US backing for the Saudi-led warfare effort.
The United Nations warned final month that Yemen might see the worst famine in a long time.
Nader Hashemi, director of the Heart for Center East Research on the College of Denver, stated the deliberate US arms sale to Saudi Arabia is “an ethical outrage”.
“This new cargo of arms solely deepens American complicity with the disaster in Yemen, broadly considered to be the worst humanitarian disaster on our planet,” Hashemi instructed Al Jazeera in an electronic mail Thursday.
“This new cargo of arms must be understood in relation to Trump’s remaining days workplace. He’s pardoning his corrupt associates and allies and absolving Blackwater guards of warfare crimes in Iraq, for which they have been convicted in a US court docket of legislation.”
The Washington Submit additionally reported this week that the US is weighing a request to grant MBS immunity from US federal prosecution in a case involving alleged threats made towards a former prime Saudi intelligence officer.
‘Outrageous’
“That is no time to be promoting bombs to Saudi Arabia given its position in killing 1000’s of civilians in air strikes on targets in Yemen,” stated William Hartung, director of the arms and safety programme on the Heart for Worldwide Coverage, a non-profit group in Washington, DC, in regards to the reported arms deal.
Hartung stated in an electronic mail that the sale to Riyadh, like a current $23bn US arms take care of the UAE, might allow violations of worldwide humanitarian legislation.
“The truth that the Trump administration is pushing these offers on its means out the door is outrageous. Congress and the incoming Biden administration ought to block these gross sales as quickly as doable,” Hartung instructed Al Jazeera.
US President-elect Joe Biden, who shall be inaugurated on January 20, has promised to “reassess” the US-Saudi relationship when he takes workplace.
“Underneath a Biden-Harris administration, we are going to reassess our relationship with the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia], finish US help for Saudi Arabia’s warfare in Yemen, and ensure America doesn’t verify its values on the door to promote arms or purchase oil,” Biden stated in October.