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Yemen's Saleh calls upon Arab countries to withdraw from Saudi-led coalition

Xinhua, December 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday urged several Arab countries involved in the Saudi-led coalition that is waging a military campaign against the Shiite Houthi group to withdraw from Yemeni territories.

Saleh posted a statement on his official social media account, saying "I call upon Arab leaders of Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Egypt to withdraw from the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and stop killing Yemeni people without any reasons."

He described Arab leaders as brothers, asking them "to rethink and reconsider their decisions regarding their participation in the Saudi aggression on Yemen and to focus on their internal problems instead."

On Tuesday, Saleh, who is the leader of the General People's Congress party, welcomed the United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva between Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels that will be held on Dec. 15.

Meanwhile, Saba News Agency controlled by Houthis reported Wednesday that dozens of the Saudi aggression mercenaries, including 14 foreigners, were killed in the areas of Al-Amri, Karish and Shuraija in southern Taiz province.

Saba quoted a military source as saying that "the foreign mercenaries have been brought by Saudi Arabia were all killed during a foiled attempt to advance towards Taiz province."

However, officials of the Saudi-backed government based in Aden denied the reports.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition in March began carrying out air strikes against military bases and arms depots of the Shiite Houthi gunmen, and later sent in thousands of ground troops from the UAE, Qatar and different nationalities to back pro-government forces.

The Houthi gunmen seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September 2014, forcing Yemen's internationally recognized President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to flee Aden and then Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh.

Bolstered by heavy weaponry and Gulf troops as well as Yemeni fighters trained in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the pro-government fighters have retaken Aden as well as four other southern provinces in July.

However, the Shiite Houthi rebels supported by army units from the Republican Guard Forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh are still holding the capital Sanaa and several northern provinces. Endit