The decision is unlikely to have much of an impact on Saudi capabilities to carry out strikes in Yemen. The move comes as the US Congress has threatened to take action to end American involvement in the Yemen war.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ZUMAPRESS
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The United States will stop aerial refueling of Saudi aircraft bombing Yemen, Saudi Arabia said Saturday, ending a policy criticized by US lawmakers.
The Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi rebels in Yemen said that it had "requested cessation of inflight refueling support for its operations," in consultation with the United States, according to a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency.
"Recently the Kingdom and the coalition has increased its capability to independently conduct inflight refueling in Yemen," it added.
The announcement followed a Washington Post report on Friday saying that the Trump administration planned to end air refueling amid growing public and congressional pressure.
The United States provides about 20 percent of refueling capacity to coalition jets bombing Yemen. It also provides intelligence, training and weapons.
Pentagon signals continued involvement in Yemen
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement that he supported the coalition decision. But he also signaled that the United States would continue to remain "focused on supporting resolution of the conflict" and cooperate on humanitarian and counter-terrorism issues.
"The US and the Coalition are planning to collaborate on building up legitimate Yemeni forces to defend the Yemeni people, secure their country's borders, and contribute to counter Al Qaeda and ISIS ("Islamic State") efforts in Yemen and the region," Mattis said.
Earlier this year, Mattis told lawmakers that US support of the Saudi-led campaign had helped reduce inaccurate bombing and the targeting of civilians.
'Nothing but empty talk'
The move to end refueling comes as civilian casualities mount inthe key Yemen port of Hodeida. Some 80 percent of humanitarian goods enter the famine-threatened country through the city.
Also, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman faces strong international pressure following the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi inside the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul early last month.
Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Official Saudi statements on the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have changed several times since he disappeared at the Istanbul consulate on October 2. DW traces the most important events in this intricate case.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Martin
Vanishes into thin air
October 2: Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain an official document for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building, prompting Cengiz, who waited outside, to raise the alarm.
Image: Reuters TV
Confusion over whereabouts
October 3: Turkish and Saudi officials came up with conflicting reports on Khashoggi's whereabouts. Riyadh said the journalist had left the mission shortly after his work was done. But Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the journalist was still in the consulate.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Mayo
Murder claims
October 6: Turkish officials said they believed the journalist was likely killed inside the Saudi consulate. The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi wrote, cited unnamed sources to report that Turkish investigators believe a 15-member team "came from Saudi Arabia" to kill the man.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Jamali
Ankara seeks proof
October 8: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to prove that Khashoggi left its consulate in Istanbul. Turkey also sought permission to search the mission premises. US President Donald Trump voiced concern about the journalist's disappearance.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Kovacs
'Davos in the Desert' hit
October 12: British billionaire Richard Branson halted talks over a $1 billion Saudi investment in his Virgin group's space ventures, citing Khashoggi's case. He also pulled out of an investment conference in Riyadh dubbed the "Davos in the Desert." His move was followed by Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon and a host of other business leaders.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Search operation
October 15: Turkish investigators searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The search lasted more than eight hours and investigators removed samples from the building, including soil from the consulate garden and a metal door, one official said.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Death after fistfight
October 19: Saudi Arabia finally admitted that Khashoggi died at the consulate. The kingdom's public prosecutor said preliminary investigations showed the journalist was killed in a "fistfight." He added that 18 people had been detained. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official said the country is "investigating the regrettable and painful incident."
Image: Getty Images/C. McGrath
'Grave mistake'
October 21: Saudi Arabia provided yet another account of what happened to Khashoggi. The kingdom's foreign minister admitted the journalist was killed in a "rogue operation," calling it a "huge and grave mistake," but insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware of the murder. Riyadh said it had no idea where Khashoggi's body was.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Owen
Germany halts arms sales
October 21: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would put arms exports to Saudi Arabia on hold for the time being, given the unexplained circumstances of Khashoggi's death. Germany is the fourth largest exporter of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the United States, Britain and France.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
Strangled to death, dissolved in acid
October 31: The Turkish prosecutor concluded that Khashoggi was strangled to death soon after entering the consulate, and was then dismembered. Another Turkish official later claimed the body was dissolved in acid. Turkish President Erdogan said the order to murder the journalist came from "the highest levels" of Saudi Arabia's government.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. E. Yildirim
Grilled at the UN
November 5: Saudi Arabia told the United Nations it would prosecute those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. This came as the United States and dozens of other countries raised the journalist's death before the UN Human Rights Council and called for a transparent investigation.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Coffrini
Fiancee in mourning
November 8: Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that she was "unable to express her sorrow" upon learning that the journalist's body was dissolved with chemicals. "Are these killers and those behind it human beings?" she tweeted.
Image: Reuters/Haberturk
Turkey shares audio recordings
November 10: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveals that officials from Saudi Arabia, the US, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Presidential Press Service
Symbolic funeral prayers
November 16: A symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi is held in the courtyard of the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul. Yasin Aktay, advisor to President Erdogan, speaks at the service.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Saudi-owned villas searched
November 26: Turkish forensic police bring the investigation to the Turkish province of Yalova, where sniffer dogs and drones search two Saudi-owned villas in the village Samanli.
Image: Reuters/O . Orsal
100 days since killing
January 10: Amnesty International Turkey members demonstrate outside the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, marking 100 day since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. One woman holds up a street sign which reads "Jamal Khashoggi Street". The organization has called for an international investigation into the case.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Saudi murder trial begins
January 3: The Khashoggi trial begins in Saudi Arabia, where state prosecutors say they will seek the death sentence for five of the eleven suspects. A request for the gathered evidence has been send to Turkish authorities. A date for the second hearing has not yet been set.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/Depo Photos
UN inquiry team in Turkey
January 28: Agnes Callamard, who is leading the UN probe into the handling of the Khashoggi case, arrives in Ankara where she meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The human rights expect will stay in the country for the rest of the week to speak with prosecutors and others involved in the case.
Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month madecalls for a ceasefire in Yemen.This was echoed by the EU and UK officials.
A senior rebel leader, Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, slammed these appeals as an attempt "to save face after the humiliation" caused by the murder of Khashoggi.
"The continued escalation of attacks ... by the US-Saudi-Emirati coalition confirms that the American calls for a cease-fire are nothing but empty talk," he said in an atricle published by the Washington Post on Friday.
Separately, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said calls for a ceasefire were "good to hear," but could also be a mere trick to waste time.
"I say to our brothers there: Be patient, be steadfast... You are closer to victory than at any previous time," Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
Waiting for US Congress
In Washington, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have vowed to cut US involvement in the 3-year war in Yemen, which has left at least 10,000 people dead and unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Proposals have ranged from cutting arms sales to limiting military cooperation with coalition members such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
"If the administration does not take immediate steps, including ending US refueling of Saudi coalition aircraft, we are prepared to take additional action when the Senate comes back into session," the Senate Foreign Relations Committee members said in a joint statement.
