The Saudi navy has evacuated 86 Saudi, Arab and Western diplomats from the southern Yemeni port city Aden, reported Al Arabiya News Channel on Saturday.
The evacuation mission involved two navy ships, planes and commandos, Al Arabiya reported.
Earlier on Saturday, Saudi defense minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman - who is supervising the campaign against Houthi militias in Yemen - sent three planes to evacuate a U.N. mission in the capital Sanaa.
The U.N. mission demanded airspace to allow the planes to secure their evacuation from the Yemeni capital to Ethiopia.
The evacuation was met with obstacles, however, as Houthi militias prevented nearly 140 people from the U.N. mission from leaving by surrounding their base.
As the Saudi-led “Operation Decisive Storm,” continues into its third day, source confirmed to the channel the coalition strikes destroyed a large Houthi ballistic missile stockpile in the capital Sanaa.
On the third day of the air campaign, strikes were carried out in Sanaa, as well as other areas south of the country.
Witnesses also reported that the warplanes flew in the skies of the southern city of Dalea as Houthis attempted to use anti-aircraft missiles in Sanaa against coalition fighters.
Early Thursday, Saudi Arabia and its allies waged a military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen in support of a request from President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi.
A coalition of all GCC countries, barring Oman, is taking part in the campaign, including Sudan, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Pakistan. Saudi air campaign was launched overnight which has already resulted in the elimination of several Houthi leaders.
Last Update: Saturday, 28 March 2015 KSA 09:56 - GMT 06:56
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ADEN OPERATION DECISIVE STORM SAUDI NAVY YEMEN SAUDI ARABIA
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King Salman arrives in Egypt for Arab League summit
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcoming Saudi King Salman as he arrived to the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to attend the 26th Arab League Summit. (Al Arabiya)
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By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Saudi King Salman as he arrived to the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to attend the 26th Arab League Summit.
Arab heads of states have headed to Egypt over the weekend to kick off the two-day summit, at which the crisis in Yemen will take center stage.
The summit is being held just a few days after a Saudi-led regional coalition launched a military campaign “Operation Decisive Storm” against the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken control of major cities in the West of Yemen.
Egypt has sent four warships to Gulf of Aden, in addition to participating in the operation with air force.
On Thursday, in a show of Egypt’s fully-fledged support to the Saudi-led operation, Egyptian foreign minister Samih Shoukri said Cairo was willing “to send ground forces if necessary” during an Arab League conference.
The summit is expected to focus on creating an Arab military force to fight against extremist militants or their rival Iran, a project foreign ministers have already signed a draft agreement in Thursday’s meeting.
The ministers called on the leaders of the Arab League’s 22-member nations to meet within a month to lay out the details of the military force such as budgeting.
The chaos in Libya and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will also be on top of this year’s agenda.
Last Update: Saturday, 28 March 2015 KSA 11:42 - GMT 08:42
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SISI KING SALMAN ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT SAUDI ARABIA
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