Local Editor
Germany says it won't approve arms exports to countries involved in the conflict in Yemen, a move that could affect sales of military hardware to Saudi Arabia.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats agreed during preliminary coalition talks last week to "immediately" stop approving arms exports to countries involved in the conflict.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Twitter Friday that Germany "isn't taking any arms export decisions right now that aren't in line with the results of the preliminary talks."
Earlier Friday, officials caused some confusion when they told reporters that the practice of scrutinizing export applications on a case-by-case basis hadn't changed.
Saudi Arabia, which supports the resigned regime of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi in its war with the Houthi Ansarullah movement, is a major buyer of German arms.
Saudi Arabia has come under international opprobrium for the sheer size of the casualties from the war it is leading since March 2015 to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring back the former Yemeni government to power.
The offensive has so far killed 12,000 amid countless reports suggesting deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilian infrastructure by Saudi jets and mercenaries.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
