US military support for Saudi aggressors ‘not a blank check’

Rasa - A United States top official says the country is reviewing whether to keep up support for the Saudi war on impoverished Yemen, where at least 140 civilians died in a recent airstrike by the monarchy’s forces.

News ID: 424177

Date: 09 October 2016 - 20:36

RNA - White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price made the announcement in a statement released on Saturday.

"US security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check," said NSC spokesman Ned Price in a statement, following reports that a Saudi airstrike left at least 140 mourners dead at a hall in the Yemeni capital Sana’a.

"We are deeply disturbed by reports of today's air strike on a funeral hall in Yemen, which, if confirmed, would continue the troubling series of attacks striking Yemeni civilians," Price noted. "In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led coalition."

He further suggested that Saudis’ war crimes against the neighboring Yemenis contradicted the US “values.”

Washington is “prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with US principles, values and interests, including achieving an immediate and durable end to Yemen's tragic conflict," added the spokesman.

Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015. Riyadh’s aggression, which has killed more than 10,000 in Yemen, was launched in an attempt to restore power to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh who has resigned as Yemen’s president but seeks to force his way back into power. The campaign also seeks to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The Saturday strike by Saudi jets against a funeral hall in the capital has also left more than 500 civilians injured.

"The silence of the United Nations and the international community is the munition of the murderers," Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis' spokesman in Sana’a, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press, denouncing the move as an act of "genocide.”

"Those murderers will not escape divine justice," he added.

847/940