RIYADH // Yemen’s prime minister Khaled Bahah was sworn in as vice president on Monday at the country’s embassy in Riyadh, as a Saudi-led coalition pressed on with its air campaign against Yemeni rebels.
Mr Bahah was sworn in front of exiled president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, a day after his appointment, Saudi official state news agency SPA reported.
It said several Yemeni ministers, officials and political leaders attended the ceremony.
The Gulf Cooperation Council welcomed Mr Bahah’s appointment as an important step towards helping Mr Hadi’s efforts to “restore security and stability in Yemen.”
The bloc which groups Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE pledged to “continue to support all efforts” to push for a political solution in Yemen.
Both Mr Hadi and Mr Bahah had been placed under house arrest in Sanaa by Shiite Houthi rebels who overran the capital in September and tightened their grip on power after the two leaders tendered their resignations in January.
But while Mr Hadi escaped in February to resurface in Aden, Mr Bahah reached a deal with the Iran-backed Shiite militia to end his house arrest in March.
He headed to Hadramawt, his native province in the south-east.
On March 24, Mr Bahah reportedly travelled to New York where his family lives, as the rebels tightened the noose on Aden, two days before Saudi Arabia mounted an air campaign in support of Hadi.
He flew earlier this month to Riyadh where Mr Hadi has taken refuge as fighting raged in Aden.
Mr Bahah studied administration and finance in his home country as well as India. He held the post of oil minister between 2006 and 2008, before serving as ambassador to Canada until 2014.
He returned to the oil ministry for a few months, before briefly becoming Yemen’s envoy to the United Nations in New York, and Mr Bahah was then appointed prime minister in October 2014.
Deeply-tribal Yemen, home to a deadly Al Qaeda franchise, is the poorest Arabian Peninsula state and has seen many conflicts. Violence has escalated since the Houthis overran Sanaa.
Meanwhile, the deputy chief of Hizbollah lashed out at Saudi Arabia on Monday over its campaign against the Houthis.
Sheikh Naim Kassem said Saudi Arabia made a “strategic mistake” by interfering in Yemen’s internal affairs and warned that the kingdom will “pay a heavy price” for the campaign.
“Saudi Arabia has embroiled itself and will incur very serious losses that have started to show and will increasingly reflect on its status, its internal situation and its role in the region,” Mr Kassem said. “What is happening in Yemen today will reflect on Saudi Arabia internally,” he said.
“So it would be wiser for it not to interfere in Yemen’s affairs in a negative way, but rather in a positive way by calling for dialogue,” Mr Kassem added.
* Agence France-Presse, Associated Press