Étiqueté : arabia

The US State Department has approved a possible arms sale to Saudi Arabia worth more than $1bn. The package includes a $670m deal for 6,600 TOW anti-missile tanks, a $106m contract for helicopter maintenance and $300m spare parts for military vehicles, the department said in a statement on Thursday. « This proposed sale will support US…

Saudi Arabia has extended an official invitation to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, in what would be his first visit since his rescinded resignation from Riyadh in November.   Saudi envoy Nizar al-Aloula, who is on a four-day visit to Lebanon, delivered the invitation in a meeting with Hariri on Monday. The latter described the talks…

Palestinian billionaire businessman Sabih al-Masri has been detained in Saudi Arabia on a business trip to Riyadh, his family confirmed to Reuters news agency. The 80-year-old founder of Zara Investment Holding and chairman of Arab Bank was held in the Saudi capital for questioning last week about « information related to corruption », according to Rai al-Youm.…

Weapons supplied by the United States and Saudi Arabia to opposition fighters often fell into the hands of ISIL, significantly enhancing the « quantity and quality » of the group’s armaments, a new report alleges. The number of weapons goes « far beyond those that would have been available through battle capture alone », according to the study by…

Pressure is mounting on the Canadian government over an « historic » $12bn-arms deal to Saudi Arabia, with legal experts and human rights watchdogs expressing outrage and calling for its cancellation. Signed in 2014 by the previous government, which was then led by the Conservative Party, the deal is meant to send nearly $12bn (15bn Canadian dollars)…

Athens, Greece – A political dispute in Greece over a controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia is deepening, with opposition politicians and critics decrying plans to sell 66m euros ($78.7m) worth of surplus missiles and bombs to the Arab Gulf country.  Opposition politicians have accused the government, which is currently headed by the leftist Syriza…

The US State Department has cautioned its citizens « to carefully consider » travelling to Saudi Arabia, citing persisting terrorist threats and a spillover of violence from Yemen across the border. The travel warning, issued on Tuesday, warned of the threat of ballistic missiles fired by rebel groups from Yemen into the kingdom. « In the past year,…