Biden Administration Reconsiders Saudi Arms Sales As Pressure Mounts On Allies

President Biden’s administration began an anticipated review of U.S. arms sales to several Middle Eastern countries last week, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who have been heavily involved in the coalition intervention in Yemen. The move, which will seek to review commitments made across the Trump administration and especially an arms sale agreement made last December, is “typical” according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but might have wider implications for the devastating crisis in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. It may also force key U.S. allies in Europe, in particular the U.K., which is the second-largest exporter of weapons to the Kingdom, to reconsider its stance in light of the conflict against the Houthis which has dragged on since 2015, according to The Guardian.

While his predecessor Donald Trump sought to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia as a way of constraining regional rival Iran, President Biden has been more critical of the regime, especially with regards to their dismal human rights record. During a Democratic debate in November 2019, then-candidate Biden warned that his government was “going to in fact make them pay the price and make them in fact the pariah that they are,” referencing especially the steady stream of high-tech arms sales which have been used in devastating attacks on Yemen.

In the period of time since, Trump oversaw another massive arms deal with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as Egypt, another coalition partner. As part of what William Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Centre of International Policy called his “lame duck Middle East arms bonanza,” Trump authorized the sales of GBU-39 Small Diameter bombs, AH-64E Apache helicopters, THAAD Missile Defense systems, and other precision targeting equipment for drones. In their end of fiscal year reports recently, the State and Defense Departments revealed that the U.S. sold $175 billion in weapons to foreign partners in 2020, up 2.8% on 2019.

Amidst the discourse over the morality of the arms sales is the monumental humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which critics hold Saudi Arabia largely accountable for. While the move from the Biden administration is a potentially welcome one for Yemen, the administration should keep solving the crisis at the centre of its agenda and use its international influence to steer American allies towards similar commitments. The downscaling of arms to Saudi Arabia and its partners in Yemen is a good first step, but the complexities of the crisis run deeper than simply cutting off the weapon supply. The new administration needs a clear Middle East strategy that is not afraid to tarnish Trump’s new diplomatic breakthroughs in favour of securing peace in Yemen.

Iran remains a key player in the debate too since they are the primary supporters of the Houthi movement, the group which forced the Yemeni government into exile in 2015 and prompted a military response from the Saudi coalition. Trump’s arms agreements in the Middle East were primarily intended to apply pressure to Iran, as well as combat extremism, according to Al Jazeera. A multibillion-dollar deal in 2017 ushered in a new era of relations between the Kingdom and the U.S., although the Trump administration largely escalated a pattern of arms sales that started under former President Obama. Other western allies, notably the U.K., have also exported huge amounts of weapons to the regime. The British Campaign against the Arms Trade estimated £5.4bn worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the Yemen war began, second only to the U.S. In an interview last year, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that the U.K. would grant Saudi Arabia “new defensive licenses” and supports the defence of the country against Houthis. American withdrawal will, as The Guardian notes, prompt British reconsideration.

Meanwhile, it is likely that such arms have been used in coalition bombing attacks on Yemen to target Houthi militants, who control much of the northern territory in the nation. UNICEF ranks Yemen as the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with more than 80% of the population in need of aid, including 12 million children. Covid-19 has compounded those challenges, and experts fear that the recent U.S. designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization will only hamper aid worker’s efforts to access the country further.

In any decisions on arms, humanitarian aid for Yemeni civilians, who cannot afford another year of famine, must be the absolute priority. Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in ending the costly conflict, but Houthi rebel attacks on southern cities in the Kingdom leave too much at stake. The U.S. could seek to remediate ties with Iran by reducing certain sanctions and the renegotiation of the JCPoA. Repairing U.S.-Iran ties could be a key to stabilizing the conflict, given their material importance to the Houthi militia.

Shane Ward
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