Rebuking Trump, House votes to end US help in Saudi's Yemen war

The US House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia's war effort in neighbouring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump and his alliance with Riyadh.

The chamber voted 248 to 177 to approve historic legislation that would direct the president within 30 days to "remove United States armed forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen", where a years-old conflict has killed thousands of civilians.

Eighteen Republicans joined all voting Democrats in supporting the measure, a striking curtailment of presidential war powers.

The vote puts pressure on the Senate to act.

The Senate easily passed a similar measure late last year condemning the administration's defense of the Saudi kingdom, but it died as the last Congress ended with the then Republican-controlled House not bringing it to a vote.

Today the House is under Democratic control, and the measure moved swiftly on the floor.

"With my resolution passing the House, we are closer than ever to ending our complicity in this humanitarian catastrophe," House Democrat Ro Khanna, who has spent years opposing US military interventions, said on Twitter.

And with Senator Bernie Sanders helping lead the way on the legislation in the Senate, Khanna said, "A War Powers Resolution will pass through both chambers of Congress for the first time in history."