U.S. sends anti-missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia, fulfills urgent request

The United States government transferred a number of Patriot antimissile interceptors to Saudi Arabia in order to fulfil an urgent request from Riyadh amid tensions between the two nations.

According to Washington Street Journal, the US officials said that the emergency request from Saudi Arabia was made in order to bolster their defensive munitions that is extremely important for them to fend off drone and missile attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

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Saudi military has been requesting for the interceptors since last year and according to the report, they were running low on supplies. As a result, the request became a bone of contention between Riyadh and the Biden administration.

However, with the transfer of the interceptors, it is being reported that the two nations may return to amicable terms and it will be a big help for the Saudi military.

The interceptors and other munitions sent to Saudi Arabia were taken from U.S. stockpiles elsewhere in the Middle East, one of the officials said according to the WSJ report.

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The US government hopes that the arms transfer will lead to Saudi Arabia pumping more oil in order to mitigate the soaring crude prices and rebuild the trade relations between the two countries.

Earlier, Biden has also criticized Saudi Arabia for their war in Yemen and it was speculated that the US are looking to cut off the flow of some weapons Riyadh could use to target Houthis.

The president also reversed a move by Donald Trump that put the Houthis on the U.S.’s official list of global terrorist groups, a move that Saudi leaders saw as a support for the Yemeni leaders.

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