Yemen intervention to go on until Houthis ‘surrender’

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Sunday a Saudi-led offensive in Yemen will continue until the Houthi Shiite rebels "surrender" their weapons and withdraw from areas they seized.

The "operation will continue until the Houthi militia withdraws and surrenders its weapons," Arabi said at the start of the second day of a summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had attended the first day of the summit, calling for the offensive to continue until the Iran-backed rebels surrender and hand over their leaders and weapons.

Meanwhile, Arab leaders have agreed to form a joint military force, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Sunday on the second and final day of a summit.

"The Arab leaders had decided to agree on the principle of a joint Arab military force," Sisi said in a speech at the gathering in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Arab representatives would meet to study the creation of the force, said Sisi.

The decision was mostly aimed at fighting jihadists who have overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria and won a foothold in Libya, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said ahead of the summit.

On Sunday, Arabi told the meeting that the region was threatened by a "destructive" force that threatened "ethnic and religious diversity," in an apparent reference to the Islamic State group jihadists.