US House speaker lauds Saudi airstrikes in Yemen

US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner has praised Saudi Arabia for launching a military offensive in Yemen against the Houthi movement's Ansarullah fighters.

“I applaud the Saudis for taking this action to protect their homeland and to protect their own neighborhood,” Boehner told reporters in Washington, DC on Thursday.

“If America leads, our allies in the region would be tickled to death and would be happy to join a coalition. But America has to lead,” he added.

Early on Thursday, Saudi Arabia began launching airstrikes in Yemen where the Ansarullah fighters have acquired power.

Saudi warplanes bombed the positions of the Ansarullah fighters and launched attacks against the Sana'a airport and the Dulaimi airbase.

US President Barack Obama authorized the Pentagon to provide logistical and intelligence support to Saudi airstrikes in Yemen, according to National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Saudi Arabia coordinated with the United States ahead of the airstrikes, without elaborating on the kinds of support Washington has provided.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States told reporters his government had consulted closely with the US but Washington was not participating in the military operation itself.

Following the Saudi invasion, forces loyal to the fugitive Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, seized control of the international airport in Aden.

Hadi fled to an undisclosed location after Ansarullah fighters neared his refuge in the southern port city on Wednesday.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan are contributing to the air campaign by offering aircraft, Al-Arabiya TV reported.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Boehner, the the Republican from Ohio, denounced Obama as an "anti-war president," saying he is not doing enough to fight terrorist groups.

“The world is starving for American leadership. But America has an anti-war president,” Boehner said. “We have no strategy, overarching strategy to deal with the growing terrorist threat."

“It's not just [ISIL] or al-Qaeda and all of their affiliates," the House speaker added. "We've got a serious problem facing the world, and America by and large is sitting on the sidelines."

The ISIL terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

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