The 26th Arab Summit started here today. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud headed the Kingdom's delegation to the Summit. Addressing the Summit, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said 'A few days ago, this city witnessed the convening of the World Economic Conference, in which embodied the support of Arab and international community for Egypt. Today, we meet to deliberate on ways for overcoming the political and security crises many Arab countries suffer, and to address the various challenges that confront us.' The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques also said 'The excruciating reality of terrorism, internal conflicts, and bloodshed experienced by a number of Arab countries are only the inevitable result of an alliance between terrorism and sectarianism, which is led by regional powers whose blatant interventions in the Arab region have resulted in undermining security and stability in some of our countries. In Yemen, the foreign intervention enabled the Houthi militias to overtake the legitimate authority, occupy Sanaa, and disrupt the implementation of the Gulf Initiative which has sought to preserve Yemen's unity, stability and security. The response of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to the call of Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to hold the Riyadh Dialogue Conference in Riyadh under the umbrella of GCC General Secretariat meant to provide Yemen a safe passage to stability and to ensure a return to the normal status within the framework of the Gulf Initiative and its implementation mechanism that have enjoyed Arab and international support.' 'As the Houthi militia -- backed by regional powers that aim at extending their dominance on Yemen and using it a base for their influence in the region -- continues its intransigence and rejection of the warnings of the Yemeni legitimacy, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Security Council and all peace initiatives, and as it moves forward in its aggression against the Yemeni people and its legitimate authority, and threatens the security of the region; the brotherly and friendly countries participating in the Determination Storm have accepted the request of Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi for a stand by Yemen and its people and legitimate authority, to deter the Huthi aggression which represents a major threat to the security and stability of the region and the international peace and security, and to counter terrorist organizations,' the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques added. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques also said 'As we never wished to have resorted to taking this decision, we emphasize at the same time that Riyadh opens its doors to all Yemeni political parties committed to Yemen's security and stability, to meet under the umbrella of GCC and within the context of maintaining the legitimacy, rejection of any legitimacy breaching, ensuring the return of the State control over all Yemeni territory, returning to the State all weapons, and holding no threat the security of neighboring States. We hope that those who rebelled against the legitimacy, will listen to the voice of reason and stop depending on the power of foreign forces, and stop tampering with the security of the Yemeni people by promoting sectarian and seeding terrorism.' 'The Determination Storm operation will continue until these objectives are achieved, so that the Yemeni people are able to enjoy security and stability. In this context, we express our appreciation and thanks to the countries participating in the Determination Storm operation as well as the countries all over the world supporting this operation which will, Allah Willing, contribute to supporting peace and security in the region and the world,' the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques added. 'The Palestinian cause is at the forefront of our concerns. The stance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is firm as is always based on fundamentals and foundations that aim at achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region, and on the recovery of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their legitimate right to establishing their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital, which is consistent with the resolution of international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative in 2002 which was welcomed by the international community and ignored by Israel,' the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said. 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes that the time has come for the international community to shoulder its responsibilities, by the issuance of a Security Council resolution adopting the Arab Peace Initiative, exercising its power towards accepting it, and appointing a high international envoy to follow-up the implementation of the international resolution relevant to the initiative,' the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques added.
