Middle East

US still pouring weapons into Yemen war

The United States sold more than $650 million in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the Yemen war expanded last year, according to a study released Thursday.

The Washington-based Security Assistance Monitor said the weapons went to Saudi Arabia and the UAE through the State Department’s Direct Commercial Sales program, which allows American arms-makers to sell directly to foreign customers.

US weapons contractors reportedly sold $610 million in precision-guided bombs and small arms ammunition to the Saudis, and another $48.6 million in M-4 and M-16 automatic rifles and spare parts to the Emiratis. Congress receives detailed readouts of direct US commercial weapons sales, but only cursory data is made public.

Under the program, the UAE spent nearly $60 million for small arms in 2016, while Saudi Arabia purchased about $11 million worth of machine guns.

Experts say the move shows an uptick of expeditionary warfare by the UAE.

“It reflects the high op tempo of the UAE armed forces,” David Des Roches, a former Defense Department and White House official told Al-Monitor. “If you go back, they bought their original rifles in 2000 — they probably need to recapitalize them.”