US prepares to lift ban on sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia

Washington: The Biden administration is preparing to relax restrictions on some weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, US officials said Thursday, crediting the kingdom’s peace talks with a militia in Yemen for hastening an easing of the constraints.

President Joe Biden imposed the ban two years ago amid concerns that US weapons were being used against civilians in Yemen, where hundreds of thousands of people have died from airstrikes, fighting, disease and hunger as a Saudi-led military coalition waged war against an Iran-backed militia called the Houthis.

The expected loosening of the limits — which blocked sales of major offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia — comes as the kingdom attempts to finalise a US-backed peace accord with the Houthis.

A representative for the White House National Security Council declined to comment.

The US officials did not say when the easing of the ban on sales might occur. And such a move could be reversed if Biden decides it is not in US interests to allow the offensive weapons to flow to Saudi Arabia, which is by far the largest buyer of American arms.

Just south of Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s Houthi militia has embarked on a fiery assault that has disrupted global trade, launching missiles and drones at commercial ships in the Red Sea. The group has framed the attacks as a campaign to force Israel to end its siege on the Gaza Strip and have pushed the world’s largest shipping companies to reroute vessels away from Yemen, which sits beside a key maritime chokepoint.

Saudi Arabia — after eight years of fighting a grinding war in Yemen — has shown no interest in reentering a conflict with the Houthis, particularly as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, seeks to reduce regional tensions and focus on the kingdom’s economy.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are working to cement a peace deal that would formalize a truce in Yemen.

Biden’s planned policy shift is likely to face opposition from some lawmakers. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee imposed its own block on arms sales to Saudi Arabia in October 2022, after the country — along with Russia and other oil-producing nations — agreed to slash their oil production.