New Yemen VP Says He Hopes to Avert Saudi Invasion

Yemen's newly-appointed Vice President Khaled Bahah said on Thursday he hoped to avert a Saudi-led invasion to restore unity to the country. Bahah is a widely respected figure named this week to shore up the legitimacy of the exiled Saudi-backed government, Arab military exercises planned for Saudi Arabia have raised speculation that Riyadh is considering land operations in Yemen, after three weeks of air strikes that failed to halt advances by Shi'ite fighters now in control of most of the country. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi named Bahah, a former prime minister and diplomat, as his deputy this week in an attempt to widen support for his government, now exiled to Saudi Arabia since the Iran-backed fighters, known as Houthis, seized the capital and launched a lightning advance on the south.