The Biden administration will lift its ban on the sales of offensive weaponry to Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported on Friday, a move that reverses the three-year US ban amidst ongoing attempts by the administration to broker a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal.
The move comes against the backdrop of the 10-month-long Israeli war on Gaza and after Middle East Eye's reporting that Russia has deployed military intelligence officers to assist Yemen's Houthis with targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
A congressional aide told Reuters that the administration briefed Congress this week on the decision, and another source said that Biden was moving ahead on Friday afternoon with notifications about a sale. "The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours," a senior Biden administration official told Reuters.
Middle East Eye reached out to the White House for comment on the report, but didn't hear back by time of publication.
The Biden administration first invoked the ban on offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in February 2022, a move that came after US lawmakers, progressive activists, and antiwar groups were calling on Washington to end its support of the Saudi-led coalition's war efforts in Yemen.
