1st LD: Yemeni president flies to Riyadh with Saudi king: Yemeni FM

Yemeni President Abd-Raabbou Mansour Hadi has left Egypt on Saturday and headed to Saudi Arabia with King Salman bin Abdel-Aziz, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin told Xinhua.

Both Arab leaders have flown to Riyadh after they made their speeches in the opening ceremony of the Arab League (AL) 26th Summit meeting in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The Yemeni President Hadi, who fled the Yemeni southern seaside city of Aden to the Saudi capital Riyadh Thursday evening after the Shiite Houthi fighters were closing in on the city to capture him, arrived in Egypt late Friday to participate in the meeting.

Addressing the delegates during the summit, Hadi urged the Arab states to continue their military operation against the Shiite Houthi group until it is fully defeated.

Hadi asked the Saudi-led coalition forces which have been pounding the Iran-backed Houthi group to go on with their airstrikes until the rebels' surrender.

The Yemeni president said he faced real hazards to attend Saturday's summit meeting in order to represent Yemen's legitimate and constitutional authorities.

Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen on Thursday, a move condemned by Iran but supported by the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.

The airstrikes came hours after Yemen officially called for an Arab militarily intervention to thwart the Houthis' bid to seize power.

Yemen has been gripped by widespread violence in the southern region since early February, raising fears that the impoverished country is slipping into a civil war.

The Houthis, who have seized large parts of the country including its capital Sanaa, ousted the Yemeni president who fled to the southern port city of Aden. Endit