US to sell $4.2bn in weapons to Jordan, Saudis, UAE

The Biden administration has notified the US Congress of planned weapons sales worth $4.21 billion to its despotic Arab allies in the Middle East, including the sale of 12 F-16 jet fighters to Jordan, as well as air defense systems to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The sales come as the UAE has come under unprecedented retaliatory air raids on major cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi by Yemeni ballistic missiles and drones in response to its role in the brutal Saudi-led war of aggression against neighboring Yemen, the UK-based al-Monitor reported Friday.

Washington is further proposing an extension to an earlier $30 million sale of spare parts to repair and maintain Abu Dhabi’s Homing All the Way Killer (HAWK), Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile defense systems, the State Department announced on Thursday, the report added, noting that the total cost of the upgraded sale would be $65 million.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of an important regional partner. The UAE is a vital US partner for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East,” the State Department claimed in a press release.

Additionally, Saudi Arabia is expected to purchase 31 Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminals (MIDS-LVT) integration systems for $23.7 million to upgrade its THAAD systems.

The THAAD system is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in the final stages of flight, while the MIDS-LVT is a communication component for computer systems that integrate data across military platforms.

Riyadh already possesses MIDS-LVT terminals on its Patriot missile defense systems, the administration said in a statement. However, the warmonger regime has failed to protect its oil and military installation from retaliatory Yemeni missile and drone attacks

This is while the US military has also approved the deployment of a Navy guided missile destroyer, the USS Cole, and fifth-generation fighter aircraft to the UAE following the recent retaliatory air raids by Yemeni forces.

US military officials have not, however, publicly specified what role the American pilots will play in assisting the UAE aggression against Yemen.

US lawmakers in Congress, meanwhile, have rallied in recent years to try to block weapons sales to the two Persian Gulf kingdoms due to their brutal and indiscriminate air raids against the Yemeni population centers as well as the torture killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamaal Khashoggi by assassins linked to its oppressive rulers. 

However, the latest effort by a number of US lawmakers to block air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia, which the Biden administration described as necessary to help Riyadh knock down “Houthi missiles,” failed to gain sufficient support in the US Senate.

The development came as the Saudi-led military coalition has newly targeted various provinces across Yemen with more than 30 airstrikes as Riyadh's war of aggression on the impoverished nation intensifies amid major military gains by the Yemeni army.

Saudi warplanes conduct over 30 strikes on Yemen’s Sana'a, Sa’ada, Ma'rib, Jawf, Hajjah provinces

The Saudi-led coalition takes various Yemeni provinces under more than 30 new airstrikes.

Yemen's al-Masirah television network reported the assaults on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, specifying the targeted provinces as the west-central province of Ma'rib, the Sana'a and al-Jawf provinces that neighbor it respectively to the west and north, and the northwestern provinces of Hajjah and Sa'ada.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—the closest US allies in the region after the Israeli regime—have been waging the war on Yemen since March 2015.

The invasion has been seeking to change Yemen’s ruling structure in favor of the impoverished country’s former Riyadh- and Washington-friendly rulers.

The war, which has been enjoying unstinting arms, logistical, and political support on the part of the United States, has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen's defense forces that feature the country's army and its allied Popular Committees, have, however, vowed not to lay down their arms until the country's complete liberation from the scourge of the aggression.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Yemeni popular resistance movement of Houthi Ansarullah also warned the country’s invaders on Thursday against allying themselves with the US.

Allying with US against Yemen recipe for defeat: Ansarullah leader

Ansarullah’s leader warns Yemen’s invaders against allying themselves with the United States.

“Anyone who thinks they will be victorious by allying themselves with the Americans is seriously wrong and their certain destiny is loss [and defeat],” Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said as quoted by Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.

Al-Houthi called the United Arab Emirates, “the American’s main instrument” in the war, saying Abu Dhabi had intensified its attacks on Yemen on the US, Britain, and the Zionist regime of Israel’s orders.

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