Senate votes to back $1 billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday backed the Obama administration's plan to sell more than $1 billion worth of American-made tanks and other weapons to Saudi Arabia, soundly defeating a bid to derail the deal pushed by lawmakers critical of the kingdom's role in Yemen's civil war.

The war in Yemen is pitting the country's internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite rebels known as Houthis, who are allied with army units loyal to a former president.

The U.S. should suspend further security assistance to Saudi Arabia "at least until such time as it can be credibly determined" that the allegations have been investigated and the kingdom is abiding by the law of armed conflict, the director of the bar association's governmental affairs office said in a Sept. 14 letter to Murphy and Paul.

The deal involves more than 100 main battle tanks, machine guns, smoke grenade launchers, night-vision devices, vehicles to recover damaged tanks from the battlefield, and thousands of rounds of training ammunition.

Just under one-quarter — 475 — of the civilian deaths were attributed to rebel forces like those loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and 113 to affiliates of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.