Three Saudi soldiers killed near Yemeni border as US pushes for more arms sales

Three Saudi soldiers have been killed near border with Yemen in what is believed to be retaliatory attacks launched by Yemeni fighters on the kingdom.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday that one officer and two soldiers had been killed in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Jizan region. However, it  did not provide details about the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Yemeni fighters regularly target positions inside Saudi Arabia in retaliatory attacks against a protracted Saudi offensive on the import-dependent state.

Saudi Arabia launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall a Riyadh-backed former regime and eliminate the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has been defending the country along with Yemeni armed forces.

The military aggression and a naval blockade have killed thousands of people and plunged Yemen into the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Despite the dire situation in Yemen, the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing for more arms sales to the Saudi regime.

US 'true supporter' of Yemen war

In an interview with al-Thawra newspaper on Saturday, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, said the US is preventing the war from coming to an end.

The US is killing the Yemeni nation and sabotaging the peace process, he said, adding Trump is against peace as he believes that the war is necessary to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

Rallies against Saudi-US crimes

On Friday, Yemenis held protests in the provinces of Sana'a, Hudaydah and Ibb against Saudi and US atrocities.

According to the al-Masirah TV channel, the demonstrators in Sana'a stressed that they will never surrender and foil the enemies' plots.

They also called for the lifting of the Saudi siege on Sana'a airport and the resumption of flights.

In Hudaydah, protesters urged the UN to pressure Yemen's warring sides into implementing the truce agreement reached in Sweden last December. They also denounced the Saudi blockade on Hudaydah's al-Durayhimi district.

The demonstrators in Ibb, meanwhile, reiterated their support for Yemeni forces' retaliatory attacks.

US military bill stripped of anti-Saudi measures

Earlier this week, an annual defense spending bill was passed by the House of Representatives was stripped of multiple measures to compel tougher consequences on Saudi Arabia for human rights abuses.

US House approves Space Force, family leave in $738bn defense bill

The US House of Representatives approved a $738 billion defense policy bill providing the first paid family leave for all federal workers and the creation of a Space Force.

Three congressional sources familiar with the legislation told CNN that the removal of those measures was spearheaded by congressional Republicans who found themselves under pressure from the White House.

The bill contains cuts to provisions that would have banned the sale of weapons like precision-guided munitions to Riyadh and the sharing of intelligence and logistical support that the Saudis use in Yemen.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, was one of the White House negotiators who advocated against any tough stance on Saudi measures, two of the sources said.

"This is a President who has a Saudi Arabia first foreign policy," said New Jersey Democratic Representative Tom Malinowski.

"This is a President who is mysteriously submissive to (Mohammed bin Salman), to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, whose first instinct whenever Saudi Arabia does anything contrary to US interests is to defend the Saudis rather than defending America. That makes me very, very angry."

The bill is expected to be approved by the Senate next week before being signed into law by Trump.

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www.presstv.co.uk