WASHINGTON // The United States is to postpone a planned arms sale to Saudi Arabia and also limit military support to the campaign in Yemen because of concerns over civilian casualties.
The United States will also revamp future training of the kingdom’s air force.
The decision could strain ties between Washington and Riyadh in the remaining days of Barack Obama’s presidency and place the question of Saudi-US relations squarely on the agenda before the incoming administration of president-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20.
A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the civil war in Yemen in March 2015 in defence of the internationally-recognised government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi against the rebel Houthi movement and its Iranian backers.
Human rights groups are concerned at the number of civilian deaths. Saudi Arabia has either denied the attacks or cited the presence of fighters in the targeted areas.
An official from president Obama’s administration said, “We’ve decided not to move forward with some foreign military sales cases for airdropped munitions, PGMs (precision-guided munitions).”
One example of a suspended arms deal appears to involve the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guidance systems manufactured by Raytheon Co that convert dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions that can more accurately hit their targets.
At the same time, the United States has decided to increase efforts to address long-standing Saudi concerns by focusing more on border security, the official said. The kingdom has been subject to cross-border attacks by the Iran-allied Houthis.
“They’ve made a very strong request for greater intelligence sharing and more support for their border,” the official said.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi embassy officials.
Earlier this year, the US military reduced the number of US military personnel coordinating with the Saudi-led coalition’s air campaign, slashing it to six people from a peak of 45 personnel
* Reuters
