US lifts arms curbs on Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON:

The US confirmed on Monday it would resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia.

More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds over Saudi strikes in Yemen, the State Department said it would return to weapons sales "in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation".

"Saudi Arabia has remained a close strategic partner of the United States, and we look forward to enhancing that partnership," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Since the truce, "there has not been a single Saudi airstrike into Yemen and cross-border fire from Yemen into Saudi Arabia has largely stopped," Patel said.

"The Saudis since that time have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours," Patel said.