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Arabia | ||||||
Arab leaders meet in Sharm El Sheikh to discuss Yemen crisis | ||||||
2015-03-29 | ||||||
Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) -- Yemen’s embattled president on Saturday called rebels who forced him to flee the country “stooges of Iran,” directly blaming the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding airstrikes against rebel positions continue until they surrender. With Egypt’s president also calling for a regional Arab military force and another Gulf diplomat separately warning Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen could go on for months, the spectre of a regional conflict pitting Arab nations against Iran also has been raised. The comments by Arab leaders including Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who Other leaders, including the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, obliquely referenced Iran earlier at the summit held in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh. They blamed Iran for meddling in the affairs of Arab nations, with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi saying, without mentioning Iran by name, that it was “spreading its ailment in the body.” “This (Arab) nation, in its darkest hour, had never been faced a challenge to its existence and a threat to its identity like the one it’s facing now,” Sisi said. “This threatens our national security and (we) cannot ignore its consequences for the Arab identity.” Hadi directly challenged Iran in his remarks and called for his supporters to rise up in peaceful protest against the Houthis. “I say to the puppets of Iran and its toys: ... You’ve destroyed Yemen,” Hadi said.
Hadi also said the airstrikes launched by Saudi Arabia and its allies against the Houthis must not stop before the rebels surrender and return medium and heavy weapons they looted from army depots across much of the country. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, earlier pledged that the military campaign in Yemen would not stop before security and stability are restored.
Already, some backers of Iran have begun to step away from supporting it over Yemen. On Saturday, the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, issued a statement offering support for Hadi, as opposed to the rebels.
“Ultimately the whole idea is to achieve the political objective, which is the return of legitimacy of Yemen and a return to the political process,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorised to brief journalists by name. The official also claimed that around 5,000 Iranian, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi militiamen were on the ground in Yemen supporting the Houthis.
Dozens of foreign diplomats, including United Nations staff, still were awaiting evacuation Saturday by air in Sanaa, airport officials said. | ||||||
Posted by:Steve White |