The Biden administration has decided to lift a ban on US sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure the kingdom to wind down the Yemen war.
The administration briefed Congress this week on its decision to lift the ban, a congressional aide told Reuters. One source said sales could resume as early as next week, while another said deliberations on timing were still under way.
"The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours, returning these cases to regular order through appropriate congressional notification and consultation," a senior Biden administration official quoted in the report said.
Under US law, major international weapons deals must be reviewed by members of Congress before they are made final. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have questioned the provision of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in recent years, citing issues including the toll on civilians of its campaign in Yemen and a range of human rights concerns.
That opposition has softened amid turmoil in the Middle East following Hamas' deadly October 7 attack on Israel and because of changes in the conduct of the campaign in Yemen, according to Reuters.
Since March 2022, when the Saudis and Houthis entered into a UN-led truce, there have not been any Saudi air strikes in Yemen and cross-border fire from Yemen into the kingdom has largely stopped, an administration official said.
Yemen's war is seen as one of several proxy battles between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels ousted a Saudi-backed government from Sanaa in late 2014 and have been at war against a Saudi-led military alliance since 2015.
The Houthis have upped their attacks in the region since the start of the war in Gaza, having launched drones towards southern Israel and targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea region.
In the wake of the uptick in Houthi attacks, the US formed a coalition, made up of more than 20 countries, aimed at safeguarding commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthis.
In mid-January, with support from other countries, the US and Britain targeted just under 30 Houthi locations with 150 different weapons. They have since carried out several rounds of strikes against Houthi targets.
In addition, noted Reuters, the Biden administration has been negotiating a defense pact and an agreement for civil nuclear cooperation with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisions Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)