BEIRUT, LEBANON (11:45 P.M.) – The U.S. has not cut off their support to the Saudi Coalition in Yemen, despite heavy criticism over their role in the country’s humanitarian disaster.

The US continues to “provide support to the coalition, in particular, to help them… be discriminative in targeting and to minimize the risk of civilian causalities”, Major General David C. Hill, deputy commander of US Army Central, told the AFP News Agency.

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to direct President Donald Trump to end within 30 days all participation in hostilities “in or affecting Yemen”, where Washington supports the Saudi-led coalition against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

The US has been providing bombs and other weapons, as well as intelligence support, to the coalition, but announced in November it was ending refuelling of Saudi warplanes.

The World Health Organisation says some 10,000 people have been killed since the coalition intervened in 2015, but rights groups state the death toll could be five times as high.

The White House maintains close relations with Riyadh, but the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi’s Istanbul consulate in October has been followed by lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle increasingly pushing back.

Credit: AFP