{"id":40975,"date":"2018-08-29T14:22:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T14:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/29\/mattis-says-us-still-backing-saudi-coalition-in-yemen-war-as-lawmakers-fume\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:21:59","slug":"mattis-says-us-still-backing-saudi-coalition-in-yemen-war-as-lawmakers-fume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2018\/08\/29\/mattis-says-us-still-backing-saudi-coalition-in-yemen-war-as-lawmakers-fume\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattis says US still backing Saudi coalition in Yemen war as lawmakers fume"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Democratic lawmakers warned Tuesday they will work to block munition sales to Gulf allies in response to civilian casualties in the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, even as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended U.S. military support to the coalition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis\u2019 remarks to reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday came as a new United Nations report said all sides in the conflict may have committed war crimes. Following a strike on a school bus that killed 40 children earlier this month, opposition on Capitol Hill to military aid has deepened, with frustration the Pentagon cannot better explain its support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department of Defense can\u2019t give you a good answer about how it is our assistance is actually making it better in terms of civilian casualties,\u201d said Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain that hitting a school bus is something we\u2019re doing that is a better result.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menendez said he is continuing to block<\/a> the Trump administration from a round of sales of precision-guided munitions to Gulf nations<\/a>. That\u2019s because he has been dissatisfied with the Pentagon\u2019s response to his inquires, particularly when it comes to the U.S. military\u2019s actions after a coalition strike, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and a foe of U.S. participation in the conflict, said Tuesday he is ready to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval in the Senate to reject the sale should the Trump administration advance it to the formal notification stage. (The administration has informally notified Congress, which allows lawmakers to delay the sale over their questions and concerns for a finite period.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, Murphy offered a similar resolution of disapproval with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to end U.S. involvement. It failed in a bipartisan vote<\/a>, 55-44. On Tuesday, Murphy and other Democrats said congressional opposition is now stronger, particularly since the bus bombing and the U.N. findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why people don\u2019t believe their eyes,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cMore civilian casualties, less chance of peace, humanitarian disaster getting worse. We need to cut our losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For three years, the U.S. has provided munitions, aerial refueling and other logistical support to Saudi and Emirati forces fighting in the Yemeni civil war against Houthi rebels alleged to be Iranian-backed. At the Pentagon, Mattis told reporters U.S. support is \u201cnot conditional\u201d and urged the coalition to \u201cdo everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team of U.N.-mandated investigators said Tuesday that air attacks by the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition has caused the most direct civilian casualties in the war, and a blockade of Yemeni ports and airspace may have violated international humanitarian law. Those attacks have reportedly hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and medical facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school bus bombing has also put a spotlight on U.S. weapons sales to the region. CNN reported earlier this month that the bomb that hit the bus was a 500-pound laser-guided MK 82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin. In 2016, U.S.-supplied bombs separately struck a funeral hall in Yemen, killing 155 people, and a Yemeni market, killing 97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Pentagon, Mattis said U.S. support is meant to bring about a U.N.-brokered peace. U.S. training has yielded successes in averting civilian casualties, he said, like the establishment of \u201cno-fire zones\u201d around schools and hospitals, and coalition \u201cpilots in the air who have declined to drop [bombs] even when they have the authority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the strike on the school bus, Mattis ordered a three-star general to Riyadh to voice concerns about coalition air operations to Saudi officials. Mattis said Tuesday that U.S. partners have always been receptive: \u201cWe have not seen any callous disregard by the people we\u2019re working with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coalition has improved targeting before a sortie is launched, but it needs to improve \u201cdynamic\u201d targeting, meaning while an aircraft is in flight \u2014 as was the case in the school bus bombing, according to Mattis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after Trump took office in 2017, his administration reversed a decision by former President Barack Obama, driven by civilian deaths in the war, to suspend the sales of laser-guided bombs to Riyadh. The Senate narrowly approved<\/a> that sale 53-47.<\/p>\n\n\n\t