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Madrid cancels arms sale deal with Riyadh after Saudi massacre of Yemeni kids

The Saudi-led coalition’s recent slaughter of Yemeni children prompted the Spanish defense ministry to cancel a €9.2-million deal to sell Saudis 400 precision bombs.

 

The Saudi-led coalition’s recent slaughter of Yemeni children prompted the Spanish defense ministry to cancel a €9.2-million deal to sell Saudis 400 precision bombs.

The Spanish Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that it will return the 9.2 million euros already paid by Saudi Arabia to buy 400 Spanish-made precision bombs amid fears that they could be used to target the innocent people of Yemen, the El Mundo reported.

The arms deal had been negotiated and finalized by former Spanish defense ministers Pedro Morenés Eulate and Maria Dolores de Cospedal.

However, the recent deadly attack on a bus carrying Yemeni students, which killed 51 people including 40 children, prompted incumbent minister Margarita Robles to revise all arms deals with the Arab kingdom. The recent decision to freeze the bomb sale contract is said to be the first stage of the revision process.

The Amnesty International says Spain is the fourth country on the list of major arms exporters to the Riyadh regime. In one of the most recent contracts, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia signed a €1.8-billion deal to sell five small warships to Saudi Arabia.

 

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