Yemen’s Hadi thanks Saudi-led military alliance

President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi on Wednesday thanked Saudi Arabia and coalition forces for supporting legitimacy in Yemen, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

"I extend on my behalf and on behalf of the Yemeni people sincere thanks and appreciation for the Arab and Muslim brothers and our partners in the coalition for supporting legitimacy," he said in a televised speech from exile in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

His praise came hours after the kingdom announced the end of its almost month-long campaign to bomb Hadi's rivals in the Iran-allied Houthi rebel group and their loyalists in the army.

The president said he and his supporters will “triumph” and return to Yemen once it is rid of extremists, to rebuild it and form a modern national army.

The president called upon Yemen’s armed forces to fight alongside the popular resistance against the Houthis.

“We will succeed and extremists will have no option but to resort to peaceful means,” said Hadi.

“I left Aden under extreme threatening circumstances after the Houthi coup,” said Hadi.

“Conspirators dragged Yemen into a bloody sectarian civil war,” said Hadi, adding that a 10-point agreement between Houthi militia and deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh was struck to share power.

Hadi also lauded Khaled Bahah, who he appointed as vice president last week, as an addition to the presidential establishment. Hadi also tasked Bahah with urgently alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Speaking about the U.N. Security Council resolution 2216, Hadi said the text created a base for effective national dialogue, which drafted a new phase for all of the Yemeni people.

The resolution also signaled the international community’s unified stance in supporting the “just cause of the Yemeni people.”