Spain nixes laser bomb sales deal with Saudis

SPAIN said yesterday it has canceled a 2015 deal to sell 400 laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition fighting rebels in Yemen.

A defense ministry spokesman confirmed a report that said Spain’s new Socialist government planned to return the 9.2 million euros (US$10.6 million) already paid by the Saudis for the arms under a deal signed by the previous conservative administration. The announcement comes after an August airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen that killed dozens of civilians.

The incident sparked a wave of international anger and calls by the United Nations Security Council for a “credible and transparent” investigation. The coalition had claimed to have targeted a bus carrying rebels.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after Shiite Huthi rebels linked to Iran ousted President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government from the capital Sanaa and seized swathes of the country.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since then, 2,200 of them children, and sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It and other rights groups, including Greenpeace and Oxfam, urged Spain to stop all arm sales to both Saudi Arabia and Israel, arguing weapons are often used on civilians. Spain signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia in April to sell the Gulf Arab state five small warships worth around 1.8 billion euros.