US House Passes Bill to End Washington Support for Saudi War in Yemen

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday easily passed a bill that would require President Donald Trump to withdraw US military support from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen.

News ID: 443518

Date: 16 February 2019 - 09:21

RNA - The US House adopted a resolution that obliges Trump to end Washington’s military support for the Riyadh-led coalition’s war on Yemen, and withdraw almost all American forces engaged in the war in less 30 days, Middle East News reported.

Congress' lower chamber has passed H.J. Res. 37 by 248 votes against 177. While the Democrat-controlled House had enough votes to advance the motion, 18 Republicans broke party lines and threw their weight behind the document as well.

The resolution argues that the US entanglement in Yemen, where it provides military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states, is nothing less than war and thus requires congressional authorization.

The resolution notes that Trump must remove the US military "from hostilities in or affecting Yemen within 30 days unless Congress authorizes a later withdrawal date, issues a declaration of war, or specifically authorizes the use of the Armed Forces".

The resolution specifically prohibits any in-flight refueling for coalition military aircrafts. It also stipulates that nothing in the resolution shall harm the operation against Al-Qaeda.

While Washington last year announced the end of its practice of aerial refueling of Saudi and Emirati jets, it has continued to share intelligence with Saudis in their brutal war against the impoverished nation.

A report by CNN has also revealed that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had transferred US-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked militants, extremist militias and other groups on the ground.

Rep. Ro Khanna, the main sponsor behind the document, hailed the vote as a historic breakthrough nearing the end of an "illegal and unconstitutional involvement in Yemen", stating that with the resolution's passing, lawmakers "are closer than ever to ending our complicity in this humanitarian catastrophe".

The vote has also drawn praise from Senator Bernie Sanders, who introduced a similar resolution into the Senate last December. Building on bipartisan dismay at the Trump administration's lackluster response to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, the resolution was passed by 56 to 41 votes but did not survive the then-Republican-controlled House.

If the Republican majority in the Senate approves the resolution, it would defy Trump, who has become a lone defender of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS), brushing off both his own intelligence services and mounting public criticism for standing up for the Saudi strongman despite a history of human rights abuses and now murder on his watch. In case the motion is passed in the upper chamber, Trump might use his veto powers, which would be a first for his presidency.

The White House has so far vehemently opposed the resolution, saying in a statement on Monday that it was based on an "erroneous premise" and would deal a blow to the US' ability to contain the spread of violent extremism.

Trump also ignored a Friday deadline by Congress to determine who had ordered the assassination of Khashoggi and whether he intended to impose related sanctions on Riyadh. Under a US law, the American president had 120 days to report to Congress about designating and punishing Saudi officials responsible for the murder.

The Trump administration argued that refueling Saudi jets, sharing intelligence, and providing logistics support to the Saudis does not mean the US has been dragged into hostilities. It warned that any attempt to limit the administration's powers to help Saudi Arabia "would raise serious constitutional concerns to the extent it seeks to override the president's determination as commander in chief".

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

Weddings, funerals, schools and hospitals, as well as water and electricity plants, have been targeted, killing and wounding thousands.

Official UN figures say that more than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led bombing campaign began in March 2015. But the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) believes that at least 56,000 people have lost their lives in the war. The violence has also left around two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid amid an ongoing strict naval and aerial blockade. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

Save the Children, a charity, has reported that more than 84,700 children under the age of five may have starved to death in Yemen since the Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched the brutal war on the already-impoverished nation.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fuelled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods.

A number of Western countries, the US, the UK, and France in particular, are accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

an Oxfam representative stated that the US, UK, and French governments are behind millions of people starving in Yemen because they are “supporting this war".

“We have 14 million people starving,” Richard Stanforth, Oxfam UK’s regional policy officer for the Middle East, told RT, adding that "British, French, American governments are all behind this, they are all supporting this war".

A UN panel has compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

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