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Saudis tout humanitarian record in Yemen amid Washington backlash

Saudi Arabia’s top aid official is in the United States to convince lawmakers and the US aid agency that it has Yemenis’ best interests at heart.
Abdullah al-Rabeeah Head of the Saudi Arabia delegation attends the High-level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - RC1B701C8BC0

Saudi Arabia dispatched its top humanitarian aid official to Washington this week amid a growing US backlash against the kingdom’s war in Yemen.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Raabeah, the head of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center (KSrelief), is making the rounds with policymakers, journalists and think-tank experts to tout the country’s relief efforts amid what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor in between meetings with Senate staffers and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Raabeah defended Riyadh’s record in Yemen.

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