The US House voted Wednesday to block $8.1 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other allies, a rebuke of Donald Trump that will likely lead to a veto by the president.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers, many of whom are outraged with the kingdom over Riyadh\u2019s role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, approved three resolutions that would prevent the controversial sales announced under emergency measures earlier this year by Trump.<\/p>\n
The resolutions blocking the sales have already cleared the US Senate, and now go to the White House, where Trump is expected to issue a veto, the third of his presidency.<\/p>\n
While the House blocked the sales with a comfortable majority, it was about 50 votes shy of the two-thirds needed to override Trump\u2019s veto.<\/p>\n
Trump is seeking 22 separate sales of aircraft support maintenance, precision-guided munitions and other weapons and equipment to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan at a moment of heightened tensions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Critics say the arms sales would aggravate the devastating war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a US-backed coalition in a battle against the Iranian-supported Huthi rebels, and which the UN said has triggered the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we see what\u2019s going on in Yemen, it\u2019s so important for the United States to take a stand,\u201d House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel said on the House floor.<\/p>\n
The veteran Democrat concurred that the threats from the Iranian-backed Huthis were real, \u201cbut that doesn\u2019t mean we should just look the other way in the face of violence and the slaughter of civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s administration took the extraordinary step of bypassing Congress to approve the sale in May, as his administration declared Iran to be a \u201cfundamental threat\u201d to the stability of the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said the administration was responding to an emergency caused by Saudi Arabia\u2019s arch foe rival Iran, which backs the Huthi rebels in Yemen.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers including some Senate Republicans have said there were no legitimate grounds to circumvent Congress, which has the right to disapprove arms sales.<\/p>\n
Last month Senator Lindsey Graham delivered a stinging rebuke of the arms sales and Riyadh, saying he hoped the vote would \u201csend a signal to Saudi Arabia that if you act the way you\u2019re acting, there is no space for a strategic relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator was referring to last year\u2019s brutal murder of Khashoggi in Turkey at the hands of Saudi agents, an incident that triggered a full-blown crisis in Riyadh\u2019s relations with the West.<\/p>\n
But Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the resolutions as \u201cdangerous\u201d at a time Iran is expanding its reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran is stretching its tentacles of terror across the Middle East,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we allow them to succeed, terrorism will flourish, instability will reign, and the security of our allies, like Israel, will be threatened,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
AFP\/TF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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