The Biden administration is preparing to relax restrictions on some arms sales to Saudi Arabia, US officials said Thursday, crediting the kingdom’s peace talks with a militia in Yemen for speeding up the easing of the barriers.
President 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 starvation. while a Saudi-led military coalition waged war against an Iran-backed militia called the Houthis.
The expected easing of the restrictions – which have blocked the sale of major offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia – comes as the kingdom tries to finalize a US-backed peace deal with the Houthis.
A representative for the White House National Security Council declined to comment.
US officials have not said when the sales ban might take place. And such a move could be reversed if Mr. Biden decides that it is not in the US interest to allow offensive weapons to flow to Saudi Arabia, which is currently America’s largest arms buyer.
Just south of Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s Houthi militia has begun a fiery offensive that has disrupted global trade, launching missiles and drones at commercial ships in the Red Sea. The group frames the attacks as a campaign to force Israel to end its siege of Gaza and has pushed the world’s largest shipping company to reroute vessels from Yemen, which sits next to a major maritime choke point.
Saudi Arabia — after eight years of fighting a bitter war in Yemen — has shown no interest in re-entering a conflict with the Houthis, especially while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, aims to reduce regional tensions and focus on the kingdom’s economy.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are trying to forge a peace deal that would formalize a ceasefire in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a coalition partner in the war, have carried out airstrikes using ammunition made in America and Americans. military aid which resulted in widespread civilian deaths and sparked international condemnation.
A UN investigation that examined whether the two countries may have committed war crimes found that coalition forces tortured detainees and used child soldiers, among other actions.
In recent weeks, Saudi officials have pressed US lawmakers and presidential aides to ease the ban on the sale of offensive weapons, according to US and Saudi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential conversations. Their rationale, both sets of officials said: that Saudi Arabia needs to protect its southern border with Yemen in the event of future clashes. In addition, the kingdom has argued that it must be prepared to handle escalating tensions in its region, the officials added, as the Israel-Gaza war continues.
Mr. Biden’s planned policy change 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 cut their oil production. Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a New York Democrat and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the time, also announced a freeze on anything beyond the sale of existing defense systems, writing online that the ban will endure “until the kingdom reverses its position on Russia and its Ukraine war.”
The Saudi move created jitters in the White House ahead of midterm elections and raised concerns about the country’s relationship with Russia as it goes to war in Ukraine.
Before that, members of the Senate committee tried to block the arms sale because of civilian casualties in Yemen.
“I would oppose any release of advanced weapons as a kind of separate, one-off deal,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Thursday. “I understand the needs and the challenges that arose after October 7,” he added, “but I think there needs to be a broader context and framework.”
Other lawmakers expressed continued reservations, including Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, a relentless critic of the recent war in Yemen tried to block the sale of intelligence and communication technologies in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s demands come as threats from militia groups mount. Last month, the The Houthis hijacked a British-owned commercial ship traveling through the Red Sea. This month, a A Houthi missile hit a Norwegian tanker, starting a fire. The Houthis framed the attacks – which caused many vessels to avoid the Red Sea, traveling the longer way around the African coast – as a pressure campaign to force Israel to end the war .
Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have fired rockets or missiles at bases housing US troops dozens of times this fall.
And Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon, has clashed violently with Israeli forces across their shared border with northern Israel. Hezbollah is an ally of Iran-backed Hamas, the terrorist group that killed about 1,200 people in Israel in October and took more than 200 hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, Israeli counterattacks have resulted in the deaths of nearly 20,000 Gazans, according to health ministry officials in the territory.
Early in his administration, Mr. Biden, who once referred to Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” country, raised concerns about the kingdom’s human rights record.
Shortly after his inauguration in 2021, the State Department halted the sale of offensive weapons, vowing to review military deals made under President Donald J. Trump to ensure they are consistent with Mr. Biden’s foreign policy goals. Among the deals prevented by the ban was a planned $478 million sale of precision-guided munitions.
Mr. Biden was also concerned about the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post, by Saudi operatives in 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. US intelligence has concluded that Prince Mohammed approved a plan to kill Mr. Khashoggi, who is a US resident. Prince Mohammed denied the allegation.
Saudi Arabia has sought a freer flow of American weapons for years. Most of its arsenal is American-made, but the kingdom has been diversifying its purchases – as well as trying to build a domestic defense industry – as it fends off concerns about declining interest and American influence in the region.
And top Biden administration officials have been keen to court the kingdom’s favor over the past year as they try to reach a deal in which Saudi Arabia would establish diplomatic ties with Israel — discussions that have apparently stalled the war in Gaza.
