Yemen's President Hadi arrives in Saudi Arabia: state news

Published March 26th, 2015 - 05:10 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi arrived in Riyadh on Thursday, Saudi media has reported.

The Yemeni president was received at Riyadh's military airport by Saudi Defense Minister Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and Intelligence Chief Khaled bin Ali Al Humaidan, Saudi's official news agency reported.

It did not mention, however, where the Yemeni president had flown in from.

Local Yemeni sources told The Anadolu Agency earlier that Hadi had left Yemen's southern city of Aden for neighboring Oman.

Saudi media had reported earlier that Hadi had left Aden en route to Egypt to attend an Arab summit slated to kick off on Saturday.

Hadi's arrival in Saudi Arabia comes hours after the oil-rich kingdom led airstrikes by several Arab and non-Arab countries against Houthi positions in Yemen.

Predominantly-Sunni Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to Hadi's appeals for military intervention in Yemen with a view to "saving the people from the Houthi militias."

Fractious Yemen has been in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country as well.

Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting the Houthi insurgency.

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