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Report: Obama administration arms sales offers to Saudi top $115bn

September 8, 2016 at 3:10 pm

US President Barack Obama’s administration has offered Saudi Arabia more than $115 billion in weapons, other military equipment and training, the most of any US administration in the 71-year US-Saudi alliance, a report seen by Reuters has found.

The report, authored by William Hartung of the US-based Centre for International Policy, said the offers were made in 42 separate deals, and the majority of the equipment has yet to be delivered.

The report said US arms offers to Saudi Arabia since Obama took office in January 2009 have included everything from small arms and ammunition to tanks, attack helicopters, air-to-ground missiles, missile defence ships and warships. Washington also provides maintenance and training to Saudi security forces.

The Centre’s report is based on data from the Defence Security Cooperation Agency, a Department of Defence body that provides figures on arms sales offers and Foreign Military Sales agreements. Most of the offers, which are reported to Congress, became formal agreements though some were abandoned or amended. The report did not disclose how many of the offers were agreed.

Washington’s arms sales to Riyadh have recently come under fire from rights groups and some members of Congress following the rising number of civilian casualties in the war in Yemen, where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia is fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

The outcry over civilian casualties has led some members of Congress to push for restrictions on arms transfers and, amid the growing outcry, the Pentagon cautioned that its support for Saudi Arabia in its Yemen campaign was not “a blank check”.