A picture released by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) shows Saudi King
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (AFP Photo/
The United States has approved the possible sale to Saudi Arabia
of up to 153 tanks, hundreds of machine guns and other military gear
in a deal worth $1.15 billion, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The announcement coincided with news that Saudi-led coalition
warplanes had resumed air strikes on Yemen’s capital for the first
time in three months, killing 14 people and shutting the airport
after UN-brokered talks were suspended.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said she was “very
concerned” by Tuesday’s casualty reports, but did not directly
comment when asked if the State Department worried US weapons being
sent to Saudi Arabia could be used against civilians.
“We regularly talk to our partners and our allies around the
world. You know, civilian casualties are obviously of grave concern
to us,” she said.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA),
Riyadh had requested the possible purchase of up to 133 American
M1A1/A2 Abrams tanks that would be configured to Saudi needs, plus
another 20 to replace damaged tanks in their fleet.
Additionally, the deal would include 153 .50-caliber machine
guns, 266 7.62mm M240 machine guns, smoke grenade launchers, armored
recovery vehicles and a range of other hardware.
The US State Department has approved the “possible” sale and
notified Congress on Monday, the DSCA said.
Congress has 30 days to block the sale, though is unlikely to do
so.
“This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and
national security of the United States by helping to improve the
security of a strategic regional partner which has been and
continues to be a leading contributor of political stability and
economic progress in the Middle East,” the DSCA said in a statement.
“The addition of these tanks and recovery vehicles to the (Saudi
military’s) inventory will enhance Saudi Arabia’s ability to support
its soldiers in the field and to defend the Kingdom’s borders.”
– 6,400 dead –
The Pentagon announcement made no mention of the conflict in
Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition intervened in March last year
after Shiite Huthi rebels and allied forces loyal to former
president Ali Abdullah Saleh overran Sanaa.
Tuesday’s raids included a strike on a food factory in Yemen’s
rebel-held capital Sanaa, medics said.
Factory director Abdullah al-Aqel gave a higher toll of 16 killed
and 10 wounded, adding that all the victims were workers.
The Al-Aqel factory, which makes potato chips and is near a
military equipment maintenance center targeted in the raids, was
struck during working hours, he added.
The UN says more than 6,400 people, mostly civilians, have been
killed in Yemen since the coalition air campaign began last March.
The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes
and left more than 80 percent of the population needing humanitarian
aid.
Saudi Arabia also forms part of the US-led coalition fighting
Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
Last November, the United States approved a $1.29 billion deal to
replenish the Saudi air force’s arsenal, depleted by its bombing
campaign in Yemen.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/us-approves-1-15-billion-military-weapons-sale-to-saudi-arabia/