The Pentagon has given the go-ahead for the sale of $7 billion worth of military aircraft and missiles to four Arab states, the bulk of which is to head to Saudi Arabia.
It announced the approval on Thursday of a $3.51-billion contract to sell 48 CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters with spare engines and machineguns to the kingdom.
Another deal envisages the transfer of $3.5-billion in 27 AH-64E Apache helicopter gunships and support equipment to the United Arab Emirates.
Washington and Riyadh maintain a controversially-close alliance, with the US turning a deaf ear to stop arms sales to the kingdom due to its tattered human rights record and its 2015-present bloodletting against Yemen.
Saudi Arabia initiated the bombing campaign in March 2015 to reinstall Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a dedicated Riyadh ally, who had resigned earlier and fled to the Saudi capital.
The offensive has killed thousands and displaced millions across the…