Saudi king returns home, gives bonus to personnel fighting in Yemen

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz returned home on Sunday after a month-long holiday in Morocco, and ordered a month’s extra pay for Saudi military and security personnel actively involved in military operations in Yemen, state news agency SPA said.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef had been left to manage the kingdom’s affairs in the king’s absence.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Arab states backing Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces who control Yemen’s capital Sanaa.

Hadi is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia, while his forces, backed by the coalition, are waging an offensive to try to recapture Sanaa from the Houthis and troops loyal to their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

SPA said King Salman flew back from Tangier in Morocco to the Red Sea city of Jeddah, where the government of the world’s top oil exporter usually moves in the summer to escape the scorching heat of the capital Riyadh.

Referring to the two stages of the military campaign in Yemen that began in March 2015, the agency said that King Salman ordered a month’s salary for staff in the Defence Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the National Guard who are “actual participants in the front line of the Decisive Storm and Restoring Hope” operations.

Source: Reuters