News - World: Member of the US House of Representatives, Ilhan Omar, calls on Congress to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, and attributes the reason to the latter’s role in the war in Yemen, which is one of the worst humanitarian disasters.

Ilhan Omar, a member of the US House of Representatives from the Democratic Party, introduced a bill to prevent the completion of the air-to-air missile deal to Saudi Arabia worth $650 million, the first under the administration of President Joe Biden.

Omar said that she submitted the project known as the “joint rejection decision” because of “Saudi Arabia’s role in the war in Yemen, which is one of the worst humanitarian disasters”, and also because of its “human rights record.”

“We should never sell arms to violators of human rights, we should never do so in the midst of a humanitarian crisis for which they are responsible,” Omar said, calling on Congress to halt such sales.

But the odds of stopping the sale are slim, because it would have to pass the US Senate and escape a possible veto. But Omar’s behavior underscores continued caution about arms sales to Riyadh among some lawmakers, despite the Biden administration’s intention to limit arms sales to the kingdom to “defensive” equipment.

Earlier this month, the US State Department approved a deal to sell Riyadh air-to-air missiles worth up to $650 million, under the pretext of “increasing cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia,” the first major US arms deal to Saudi Arabia since the administration of President Joe Biden took office. It adopted a policy of selling only defensive weapons to its Gulf ally.

This comes after US President Joe Biden announced, on February 4, the cessation of US support for the war on Yemen, in addition to freezing arms sales to Saudi Arabia, in the context of his efforts to control relations with Saudi Arabia.

It is worth noting that the Prime Minister of Sana’a government, Abdul Aziz bin Habtoor, was briefed on the issue of deformities affecting fetuses and newborns in Al Hudaydah Governorate a few days ago, and said that it was a product of the prohibited weapons that the aggression had deliberately used.

Source: Middle East in 24