09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna announced on Saturday that the United States will stop funding Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen.
“We will stop funding the Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen,” Khanna said on Twitter shortly after Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the US presidential election to become the country’s 46th president.
https://twitter.com/RepRoKhanna/status/1325125195846217729?s=20
Biden pledged during his election campaign to re-evaluate Washington’s relations with Riyadh and end US support for the war in Yemen.
In September 2019, Khanna, along with a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, led a campaign to end the Saudi-led war in Yemen, by blocking American logistical support for the Saudi-led coalition’s air strikes in Yemen.
Following the deadly shooting of three US sailors and the wounding of eight others by Saudi Air Force trainee, Muhammad Al-Shamrani, at the Pensacola Air Force Base in Florida in December, Khanna said the incident confirms that time has come to put an end to American support for the Saudi Air Force, including stopping the provision of logistical support for air strikes on Yemen.
Impoverished Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.
The war, in which the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) back the Saudi-led coalition, has killed more than 100,000 people and pushed millions to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations (UN) official data.
