Alwaght- The US is working hard to ink deals for tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, despite the regime’s ongoing aggression on neighboring Yemen that has killed over 12,000 people since March 2015.
In a major shift from its predecessor, Donald Trump's administration has been negotiating with Saudi regime over multi-billion arms deals, Reuters reported Friday, citing unnamed sources within the administration.
Notably, Saudi Arabia is set to be the first stop on President Donald Trump’s maiden foreign trip since taking the office.
Sources told Reuters the arms package includes a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system from Lockheed Martin, similar to the one being made operational in South Korea, which costs around $1 billion.
Saudi Arabia launched a deadly aggression against its southern neighbor Yemen on 27 March 2015 in a bid to restore power to Yemen's resigned president who fled to Riyadh after Yemeni people's uprising in 2015.
Over 12,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians including women and children, have been killed during the Saudi-led aggression.
Washington and its oil-rich ally Riyadh have also been negotiating over a C2BMC software system and a package of satellite capabilities, also provided by Lockheed. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle and M109 artillery vehicle manufactured by BAE Systems PLC could also be included in the package, sources told Reuters.
There are reportedly more than $1 billion worth of munitions, including armor-piercing Penetrator Warheads and Paveway laser-guided bombs made by the Raytheon Co.
The deal could also contain contracts that have been under discussion for years but was never finalized. One of the newly negotiated contracts was previously approved by the State Department in 2015, and includes four multi-mission surface combat ships costing $11.5 billion.
If the deal is sealed, it would be the first time the US has sold a new small surface warship to a foreign country in decades.
The US and UK have been providing logistic and intelligence support to Riyadh in its war against defenseless Yemenis, while equipping the kingdom’s military forces with a wide array of weapons including illegal munitions like cluster bombs.
Saudi Arabia was the world’s second largest arms importer in 2016 after India, purchasing over $15 billion in weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Human Rights Group have repeatedly condemned western countries arms sale to Saudi Arabia whom they accuse of committing blatant war crimes against poorest Arab nation of Yemen.
Amnesty International has recently censured the US and UK for their “shameful” weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia, saying Washington and London were fueling the serious human rights violations and war crimes in Yemen committed by Riyadh.
Amnesty said the US and UK have sold over $5 billion worth of weapons to the Riyadh regime since the onset of the war, more than 10 times the $450 million they have allegedly spent to help save Yemeni civilians.
Saudi Arabia has conducted at least 58 “unlawful airstrikes” since the start of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen “with direct military support from the US and assistance from the UK,” according to a report in October by Human Rights Watch.
Despite spending billions of dollars on the full-scale war, however, Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its pre-determined goals.
