US plans major arms sales to Israel, Saudi Arabia

The US Defense Department has announced plans for lucrative sale of offensive weaponry to the regimes in Israel and Saudi Arabia, which have been deeply involved in deadly military offensives and destabilizing measures in the troubled Middle East.

In a USD 1.9-billion arms deal with the Tel Aviv regime, the Pentagon will supply nearly 3,000 Hellfire precision missiles, 250 AIM-120C advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, 4,100 GBU-39 small diameter bombs and 50 BLU-113 bunker buster bombs to Israel.

The deal also includes “14,500 tail kits for Joint Direct Attack Munitions for 220kg and 900kg bombs and a variety of Paveway laser-guided bomb kits.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which coordinates US military’s arms sales to foreign nations, also claimed that “the proposed sale of this equipment will provide Israel the ability to support its self-defense needs.”

The DSCA also said the new arms deal is intended to “replenish” the Israeli regime’s arsenal without supplying its military forces with any kind of new weapons.

In November 2014, it was reported that Pentagon planned to supply Israel with 3,000 smart bombs, similar to those used in the massive Israeli military aggression against the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip last summer, when its forces dropped an estimated 100 tons of munitions on the densely populated enclave.

According to US military’s DSCA, the prospective arms deal with Saudi Arabia, also worth around USD 1.9,  will include the sale of 10 Seahawk MH-60R multi-mission helicopters along with relevant radars and navigation systems as well as 38 Hellfire missiles and 380 Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System rockets.

This is while the Saudi regime, the largest buyer of US arms, has spent USD 90 billion on purchase of US weaponry between 2010 and 2014, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report released late last month.

The military helicopters will be supplied to the Saudis by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, while its associated radar and missile systems will be produced by Lockheed Martin.

Meanwhile, the key contractors fulfilling the Israeli arms deal will be Boeing, Ellwood National Forge, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missile Systems.

The Pentagon has also defended the arms sales, claiming that both deals “will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States.”

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently been engaged in acts of aggression against regional countries.

During its 50-day onslaught in Gaza last summer, Israeli forces killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, the vast majority of them unarmed civilians, injuring over 10,000 and making more than 150,000 people homeless.

The Israeli military also regularly targets military and industrial targets in neighboring Arab state of Syria and as well as Lebanon’s border areas.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen began on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The United Nations says, since March 19, over 1,800 people have been killed and 7,330 injured due to the conflict in Yemen, which was exacerbated by the Saudi airstrikes.

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