by the Trump administration to sell nearly half a billion dollars worth of advanced U.S. bombs to Saudi Arabia, which for over five years has been leading an airstrike campaign and starvation blockade that have added tens of thousands of civilian deaths to the already staggering toll in Yemen's ongoing civil war.
"The Biden administration has indicated a desire to rethink the U.S. relation[ship] with Saudi Arabia. The outgoing president should not use his lame-duck period to make that more difficult."
—Jeff Abramson,
Arms Control Association
Bloomberg reports the U.S. State Department has notified Congress of its intention to license the sale of some 7,500 Raytheon Paveway precision-guided, air-to-ground munitions valued at $478 million to the kingdom, despite its status as one of the world's worst human rights violators and prolific perpetrator of U.S.-backed war crimes in Yemen.
After the license is approved—likely before President Donald Trump leaves office next month—Raytheon will have a green light to sell the arms directly to the Saudi regime.
Human rights advocates condemned the proposed sale, citing conduct by Saudi and allied military forces in Yemen.
"This deal should not be allowed to stand," asserted William D. Hartung, director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy, in a statement Wednesday. "The United States should not be selling precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia at this time, given their leading role in the air war in Yemen which has killed thousands of civilians and prolonged a conflict that is now the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe."'>>>
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