An American official attacks the US-Saudi relationship over the war on Yemen
YemenExtra
Y.A
Saudi Arabia has been a major source of division within Washington. The White House has been at complete odds with Congress over America’s relation with the kingdom triggering strong displays of disgruntlement.
In the latest show of discontent, Republican Senator John Barrasso blasted Riyadh for being in “complete violation” of US values. His strong attack of the royals in Saudi was made during an interview with CNN, where the senator from Wyoming urged the US to “reevaluate” its relationship with the kingdom.
Barrasso revealed that he would be co-sponsoring a bill introduced on Wednesday by his Republican colleague Jim Risch who is the chairman of the Foreign Relations panel in order to force the Trump administration to undergo a “comprehensive review” of US-Saudi relationship.
The bill is part of a wider call for scrutiny over America’s relationship with Saudi, which has increasingly come the conduct of Riyadh in the Yemen war. The de-facto ruler of the kingdom has also drawn the ire of US lawmakers who are deeply concerned that US arms are being used to commit war crimes in the Yemen war.
In the ongoing saga between the White House and Congress the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Republican Chairman, Senator Jim Risch, punished Saudi Arabia over human rights abuses and criticising MBS, but not halting weapons sales.
In March 2015, the US -backed –Saudi-led coalition started a war against Yemen with the declared aim of crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement, who had taken over from the staunch Riyadh ally and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while also seeking to secure the Saudi border with its southern neighbor. Three years and over 600,000 dead and injured Yemeni people and prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, the war has yielded little to that effect.
Despite the coalition claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.
More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.