Reuters/AFP
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Arab leaders at a summit in Egypt yesterday announced the formation of a unified military force to counter growing security threats from Yemen to Libya.
Working out the mechanism and logistics of the unified force could take months.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a news conference the Arab force would be voluntary, meaning no one country would be forced to take part and it could give member states flexibility should differences arise. At least two countries have committed to the force, he added.
The unified force would be supervised by the chiefs of staffs of Arab armed forces, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the summit.
The dangers facing the region since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 are stark and complex.
While conflicts intensify in Yemen and Libya, the civil war in Syria is entering its fifth year.
Islamic State militants have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria and spawned splinter groups across the Arab world.
The summit’s final communique called for “co-ordination, efforts and steps to establish an unified Arab force” to intervene in countries such as Yemen.
The move came after Saudi Arabia formed a 10-nation Arab coalition against Houthi fighters who have made rapid advances in Yemen and launched military strikes against them on Thursday.
Arab representatives will meet over the next month to study the creation of the force and present their findings to defence ministers within four months, according to the resolution adopted by the leaders.
The decision was mostly aimed at fighting extremists who have overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria and secured a foothold in Libya, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said ahead of the summit.
Yesterday, Arabi told the meeting the region was threatened by a “destructive” force that threatened “ethnic and religious diversity”, in an apparent reference to the Islamic State group.
“What is important is that today there is an important decision, in light of the tumult afflicting the Arab world,” he said.
Arabi, reading a statement at the conclusion of the summit, said  the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen would continue until the Houthis withdraw from regions they have overrun and surrender their weapons.
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi at the start of the summit called for the offensive to end only when the Houthis “surrender”, calling the rebel leader an Iranian “puppet”.
James Dorsey, a Middle East analyst with the Singapore-based S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that despite support for a joint-Arab force, “it would still take months to create and then operate on an ad-hoc basis”.
Chaos in Libya may be one key test for the unified force if it intervenes in a country with factions allied to two governments, vying for control of territory and oil facilities.
Sisi has repeatedly called for concerted Arab and Western action against what he sees as an existential threat posed by militant groups operating in Libya and elsewhere.
He ordered air strikes against Islamic State militants in Libya after the group beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians there.