THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A two-day Arab summit in March 2015 ended with plans to discuss the formation of a joint Arab intervention force. Arab leaders took turns addressing the gathering about the threat posed to the region’s Arab identity by what they called moves by “foreign” or “outside parties” to stoke sectarian, ethnic or religious rivalries in Arab states. A summit resolution said the joint Arab defense force could be deployed at the request of any Arab nation facing a national security threat and that it could also be used to combat terrorist groups.
In Yemen, the Houthis swept down from their northern strongholds in 2014 and captured Yemen’s capital of Sanaa in September. Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was forced to leave.
Yemen Foreign Minister Riad Yassin said the air campaign, code-named Operation Decisive Storm, had prevented rebels from using seized weaponry to attack Yemeni cities or target neighboring Saudi Arabia with missiles. At the summit’s closing session, Arab League head Nabil Elaraby said the Saudi-led air campaign would continue until all Houthi criminals “withdraw and surrender their weapons,” and a strong unified Yemen returns.
“Yemen was on the brink of the abyss, requiring effective Arab and international moves after all means of reaching a peaceful resolution had been exhausted to end the Houthi coup and restore legitimacy,” Elaraby said.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said the leaders from 22 nations also agreed to create a joint Arab military force whose structure and operational mechanism will be worked out by a high-level panel under the supervision of Arab chiefs of staff.
“There is a political will to create this force and not to leave its creation without a firm time frame,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a news conference. The Egyptian military and security officials have said the proposed force would consist of up to 40,000 elite troops backed by jet fighters, warships and light armor and would be headquartered in either Cairo or Riyadh.