RIYADH, Nov 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi King Salman hosted Abu Dhabi’s
crown prince on Saturday, state media said, as a military coalition led by
the two Gulf allies pushes an offensive to seize the strategic Yemeni port
city of Hodeida.
Abu Dhabi’s Prince Mohammed bin Zayed led a “top-level delegation” to
Riyadh, the official Saudi press agency said in a brief statement, after the
US halted a controversial refuelling arrangement for coalition air craft
engaged in Yemen.
The two leaders reviewed “current developments in the region and challenges
and crises facing it”, the UAE’s state news agency WAM said, without
elaborating.
The Saudi and UAE-led war in Yemen has caused growing international unease
after high-profile coalition air strikes that have killed scores of
civilians, many of them children.
Saudi Arabia in particular faces increased scrutiny following international
outrage over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder last month in its consulate
in Istanbul.
Saudi rulers have sought to rally support from Arab allies following what
is seen as the worst diplomatic crisis facing the kingdom since the September
11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
The United Arab Emirates has thrown its support behind Saudi Arabia, its
main ally, over the Khashoggi affair.
Yemeni government forces backed by the coalition pressed further into
Hodeida, seizing its main hospital in heavy fighting on Saturday, as they
shrugged off an end to US refuelling support.
The intensified battle for Hodeida comes despite Pentagon chief James
Mattis calling last month for a ceasefire and negotiations between Yemen’s
warring parties within 30 days.
The United Nations has since pushed that deadline back to the end of the
year.