Prez to Saudis: Nix Yemen blockade

SAUDI ARABIA must stop blocking aid packages from reaching Yemen, President Trump demanded Wednesday, taking a rare shot at the U.S. ally.

“This must be done for humanitarian reasons immediately,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the Yemeni people “desperately” need medicine, food, water and fuel.

Trump has previously been reluctant to criticize the Saudis, despite international outrage over the kingdom’s strict import blockade on Yemen, which has been ravaged by a bloody civil war since 2015.

The Saudis, who are concerned about Iranian influence in Yemen, first imposed a blockade on the war-torn country last month after Houthi rebels there launched a missile on the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Saudi leaders partially lifted the blockade last week but humanitarian groups claim most ships are still blocked from entering Yemeni ports.

The U.S. has indirectly supported the Saudi blockade by selling the kingdom billions of dollars worth of weapons.

The Yemeni civil war escalated earlier this week when Houthi rebels killed their one-time ally, ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The assassination prompted the Saudis to intensify their air strikes.