US Sends Thousands Of AK-47s, RPGs To Sniper Rifles Confiscated From Houthi To Ukraine

The confiscated Houthi arms shipments were for the Ukrainian military. (Twitter/@CENTCOM)

JAKARTA - The US Central Command (US CENTCOM) announced that the United States had shipped thousands of weapons, rocket launchers and hundreds of thousands of ammunition seized from the Houthis group for the Ukrainian military.

"This week the US government sent more than 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7 and more than 500,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces," CENTCOM wrote in a post on X, quoted from The National News April 10.

It was further explained that US troops confiscated the ammunition between May 2021 and February 2023, and the government acquired its holdings in December through the "claims of civil confiscation" of the Department of Justice against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The claim states the weapons had been seized because otherwise the weapons would be used to "trigger violence and conflict around the world," the Justice Department said last month.

"Iran's support for armed groups threatens international and regional security, our troops, diplomatic personnel and citizens in the region, as well as our partners," CENTCOM wrote.

"We will continue to do whatever we can to explain and stop Iran's destabilizing activities," he continued.

The move to transfer weapons to Kyiv comes as the US Congress doubts to continue funding Ukraine's war against the Russian invasion.

Although support for Ukraine in Washington was initially strong, Republican Congressmen have demanded a crackdown on the US-Mexico border, in exchange for their support for President Joe Biden's 110 billion US dollars emergency shopping request that covers about $61.4 billion for Kyiv.

The Pentagon itself has warned for months that if aid was not delivered to Ukraine, Russia would win the war, which is now entering its third year.

Iran-backed Houthi groups have been involved in dozens of missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, since the Hamas-Israeli conflict in Gaza, Palestine broke out in October 2023.

Meanwhile, US naval forces have sought to end Houthi's attacks on major international shipping lines, through a US-led multinational security campaign on a security mission titled 'Operation Property Guardian'.

The US has also carried out a series of attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.