US Sending Saudi Arabia $750 Million In Bombs, Reversing 3-Year Ban

Days ago we featured a report detailing how the US is ready to get back to ‘business as usual’ regarding Saudi Arabia, as the Biden administration is set to lift its three-year ban on sales of offensive weaponry to the Gulf kingdom.

Biden has been hoping to broker a Saudi-Israel normalization deal during this closing phase of his administration, and he’s trying to woo Riyadh connected with efforts toward a Gaza ceasefire to end the war there.

On Tuesday The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that the offensive weapons pipeline to Saudi Arabia is back on, reporting that the US is sending shipments of bombs worth more than $750 million. This is expected to be complete in the coming months, before Biden exits the White House. 

These bomb shipments have been on pause in the wake of the half-decade long Saudi/UAE/US coalition operation in Yemen, which resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis at that time. 

Worsened relations between Washington and Riyadh also were on display in the years after the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi intelligence in Istanbul, likely on orders from crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).

But despite Biden previously calling MbS a “pariah”, a new quid pro quo arrangement is back on, per the WSJ:

The deliveries will include 3,000 Small Diameter Bombs and 7,500 Paveway IV bombs, which have been on hold since President Biden halted the shipments in 2021 over Saudi Arabia’s punishing war in Yemen.   

The shipments underscore White House attempts to woo Riyadh, hoping closer ties with the oil-rich kingdom will pay dividends in the administration’s final months. The Biden administration has been drafting a defense treaty with Saudi Arabia, as well discussing plans to provide assistance so the kingdom can acquire civil nuclear power. 

The initial pause in offensive weapons was ostensibly to prepare each side to agree to a 2022 ceasefire deal to end the Yemen war.

But now with the Yemeni Houthis’ onslaught of attacks on Red Sea shipping in order to punish Israel as well as Western powers for their support of the IDF military campaign in Gaza, the US is ready to arm the Saudis again.

“We are regularly conducting airstrikes to degrade Houthi capabilities, an effort that is ongoing and will continue together with a coalition of partners,” a senior Biden official recently told Reuters.

A deep dive on the inner workings of failed enforcement of weapons controls in the Biden admin by @dawnmenorg’s Josh Paul: “the End of a Pause, as the U.S. Lifts Ban on Air-to-Ground Munitions to Saudi Arabia” https://t.co/if1pBGSAno

— Sarah Leah Whitson (@sarahleah1) August 13, 2024

“We have designated the Houthis as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and we will have imposed sanctions and additional costs on the Houthi smuggling networks and military apparatus,” the official continued. “This pressure will continue to build over the coming weeks.” But in reality Biden’s Middle East policy has gone nowhere, and seems to have only escalated tensions across the region.