CUSTODIAN of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman made a series of phone calls to regional leaders amid an ongoing military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported. King Salman made the phone calls to Egyptian President Abdul Fatah El-Sisi, the king of Jordan, emirs of Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, and to Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. King Salman ordered the beginning of the sweeping military operation early on Thursday. He gave his order at midnight Thursday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. Saudi Arabia has vowed that the operation dubbed “Decisive Storm” would continue until all goals of the campaign are reached. OIC chief off to Egypt Iyad Amin Madani, secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation headed for Sharm El-Sheikh to take part in the Arab summit. Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ambassador Abdullah Alim, and other officials are accompanying Madani. Meanwhile, Ministry of Defense spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Asiri vowed that the coalition would not allow any “supplies” to reach the rebels and that no party would be allowed to back the Houthi rebellion. The coalition issued a warning on Thursday to ships not to approach Yemeni ports and declared Yemeni airspace a “restricted area.” Al-Asiri said “all forms of aircraft” have been taking part in the strikes and that all of them had “returned safely to their bases.” The anti-rebel operation would continue “as long as needed” until “legitimacy” represented by President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his government was restored, he said.
