CAIRO
Yemen's embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi on Saturday called on Arab allies to continue a military offensive against the Shiite Houthi group.
"I call for pursuing the [anti-Houthi] operation until this gang surrenders, leaves all places they have occupied and hands over all the heavy weaponry, be it the units they have looted or supplied by Iran," Hadi said at opening of the 26th Arab summit in Egypt's Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Saudi Arabia and several Arab allies launched a military offensive against the Houthis in Yemen on Wednesday.
Riyadh said the anti-Houthi campaign was in response to appeals by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to "save the people [of Yemen] from the Houthi militias."
Hadi fled Aden earlier this week after Houthis struck his presidential palace in the southern city.
"You don't know how many difficulties I have faced and how many comrades I have lost just for coming here," Hadi addressed the Arab leaders.
"I insisted on coming here to represent Yemen's constitutional legitimacy and its national project and to deliver the voice of the Yemeni people to the Arab nation," Hadi added.
The Yemeni leader accused the Houthis of "militarizing capital Sanaa, invading several provinces, besieging senior government officials and obstructing the operations of government institutions by force."
He said that the Houthi advances were made possible due to "the support, aid and partnership of indignant local parties and regional parties that do not want stability in Yemen and the Arab region."
Fractious Yemen has been beset by turmoil since last September, when Shiite militants overran Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country as well.
Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.
