US State Department agrees to sell thousands of smart bombs to Saudi Arabia

SANAA, Dec. 30 (YPA) – Pentagon said on Tuesday that the State Department has approved the possibility of selling three thousand high-precision guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, in a deal worth up to $ 290 billion.
The deal comes in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidential term.
President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the largest buyer of American weapons in the Middle East, in an attempt to pressure Riyadh to end the war on Yemen that has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Pentagon said the deal would include 3,000 GBU-39 small-diameter bombs, containers, support equipment, spare parts and technical support, according to Reuters.
“The proposed deal will improve Saudi Arabia’s ability to face current and future threats by increasing its stockpile of long-range surface-to-air guided munitions,” he added in a statement.
And he continued, “The size and accuracy of small diameter bombs give way to effective ammunition, which causes less collateral damage,” according to the statement.
The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the potential deal on Tuesday.
Members of Congress, who were outraged by the heavy civilian casualties in Yemen, tried this year to stop the sale of F-35 fighters to Riyadh, but to no avail.
Saudi Arabia, United States, Yemen War