US Weapons To Saudi Arabia: United States Limits Arms Over Yemen Human Rights Concerns

U.S. officials have decided to scale back arms sales to Saudi Arabia as a result of war crime allegations and human rights concerns over its military campaign in Yemen, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The officials did not reveal which specific orders had been canceled, however, the restriction may have applied to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of targeting and navigation technology intended to upgrade Saudi Arabia's aerial arsenal. While the U.S. would reportedly continue to deal weapons to Saudi Arabia, it would cease supplying Riyadh with certain airborne, precision-guided arms in response to widespread reports of civilian casualties from Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

"We've decided not to move forward with some foreign military sales cases for air-dropped munitions, PGMs (precision-guided munitions)," one official told Reuters.

"That's obviously a direct reflection of the concerns that we have about Saudi strikes that have resulted in civilian casualties," the official added.

Saudi Arabia supports forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was driven out of the capital of Sana'a in late 2013 by militants of the Houthi movement, an Iran-supported group that represents the country's Zaidi Shiite minority. Fearing the Houthis were a proxy power for Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, Riyadh formed a coalition of Arab states to attack the Houthis and their allies.

The resulting conflict, which has been described as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, has led to the deaths of over 10,000 people, displaced a further 3 million and cost Yemen, already the Arab World's poorest country, over $14 billion in losses. Despite having access to precious guided weaponry supplied by the U.S., the U.N. stated in August that it believed Saudi Arabia was responsible for over 2,280 civilian deaths. An October airstrike conducted by the Saudi-led coalition struck a funeral in Sana'a, killing 140 and injuring at least 500 more.

The U.S. decision comes days after the Defense Department cleared a massive $7.9 billion arms, equipment and logistics support deal with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Qatar, all members of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's civil war.