SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Yemen’s embattled president on Saturday called Shiite rebels who forced him to flee the country “puppets of Iran,” directly blaming the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding airstrikes against rebel positions continue until they surrender.
Egypt’s president supported the creation a regional Arab military force and a Gulf diplomat warned that Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen could go on for months, raising the specter of a regional conflict pitting Sunni Arab nations against Shiite power Iran.
The comments by Arab leaders including Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled his country only days earlier, came at an Arab summit largely focusing on the chaos there caused by the advance of the rebels, known as Houthis.
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 the Persian country for meddling in the affairs of Arab nations, with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi saying, without mentioning Iran by name, that it was “spreading its ailment in the body.”
Hadi also said 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. Saudi Arabia’s monarch, King Salman, earlier pledged that the military campaign in Yemen would not stop until security and stability are restored.
The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television station said “Saudi and American aggression” had targeted the gas company in Saada province, causing a raging fire, and two other areas. Saada, north of Sanaa, is the birthplace of the Houthi movement and is a rebel stronghold.
It played footage of guerrillas and soldiers firing assault rifles and heavy weapons to the tune of martial music throughout the day. Voices chanted Houthi slogans cursing America and Israel as images of anti-government demonstrations were broadcast, occasionally showing Hadi shaking the hand of U.S. President Barack Obama.
At the summit, El-Sissi also endorsed a resolution adopted by Arab foreign ministers on Thursday for the creation of an Arab military force, saying the Arab world was currently facing unprecedented threats. He also described the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen as “inevitable.”
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.
The Saudi Press Agency also reported Saturday that its navy had evacuated 86 diplomats and others from Aden on Wednesday. It did not identify the nationalities of all those moved to safety, though it said diplomats from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar were on hand Saturday when those evacuated arrived at a Jiddah naval base.
Pakistan also announced Saturday it had two planes standing by to evacuate its citizens. Sanaa airport officials said five aircraft evacuated U.N. personnel for the second day in a row, flying them to Djibouti and Ethiopia.
Late in the evening, Saleh gave an address broadcast on Yemen Today television, blaming the country’s problems since 2011 on Hadi, urging the coalition to stop their airstrikes, and calling for new elections in which he promised “neither me nor my relatives will run.”
