Advocates see ‘opportunity’ in US review of Saudi arms sales

Arms control advocates outside the US hope Joe Biden’s Yemen policy shift will spur their gov’ts to take similar action.

Nearly two months after the United States announced it would halt “offensive” support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, as well as “relevant” arms sales, the administration of President Joe Biden has offered little clarity on how it will define those parameters. The move, though short on specifics, was welcomed by US-based advocates, who had long argued that Washington should end its backing of the coalition due to reports of widespread human rights abuses and the conflict’s punishing humanitarian toll on Yemeni civilians. Activists in other countries that provide arms to Riyadh also took note of the Biden administration’s policy pivot, hoping it could influence their own governments’ respective positions on the war in Yemen and weapons exports to the Saudi government.