Yem en ’spresiden tcallsShiite rebels‘puppetsofIran ’
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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT — Yemen’s embattled president Saturday called Shiite rebels w ho forced him to flee the country “puppets of Iran,” blaming the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding that airstrikes against rebels continue until they surrender.
Egypt’s president supported the creation a regional Arab military force, and a Gulf diplomat w arned that Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen could go on for months, raising the specter of a regional conflict pitting SunniArab nations against Shiite pow er Iran.
The comments by Arab leaders including YemeniPresident Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, w ho fled his country days earlier, came at an Arab summit largely focusing on the chaos there caused by the advance of the rebels, know n as Houthis.
Leaders of Egypt, SaudiArabia and Kuw ait obliquely referenced Iran earlier at the summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. They blamed the Persian country for meddling in the affairs of Arab nations, w ith Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissisaying, w ithout mentioning Iran by name, that it w as “spreading its ailment in the body.”
“This (Arab) nation, in its darkest hour, had never faced a challenge to its existence and a threat to its identity like the one it’s facing now ,” el-Sissisaid. “This threatens our national security and (w e) cannot ignore its consequences for the Arab identity.”
Hadichallenged Iran in his remarks and called for his supporters to rise in peaceful protest against the Houthis.
“I say to the puppets of Iran, its toys and those w ho support it, you have destroyed Yemen w ith your political adolescence and by manufacturing domestic and regional crises,” Hadisaid.
Iran and the Houthis deny Tehran is arming the rebels, though it has provided humanitarian and other aid.
Of(icials in Iran had no immediate comment on Hadi’s remarks.
Saudiw arplanes carried out dozens of raids on military sites across the country overnight and into Saturday, striking targets in and around Sanaa, Marib, Dhamar, Lahj and other areas, security of(icials said.
Yemenimilitary of(icials said an explosion rocked the Jabal al-Hadid military camp in Aden that houses a w eapons depot and had been taken by forces loyal to Yemen’s former leader, AliAbdullah Saleh, killing and w ounding several people.