Arab leaders have agreed to form a joint military force, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Sunday at a summit overshadowed by a Saudi-led offensive on Shiite rebels in Yemen, reports France 24.

Arab representatives would meet over the next month to study the creation of the force, according to the resolution adopted by the leaders on the last day of the weekend meeting in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

‘Assuming the great responsibility imposed by the great challenges facing our Arab nation and threatening its capabilities, the Arab leaders had decided to agree on the principle of a joint Arab military force,’ Sisi said.

The decision was mostly aimed at fighting jihadists 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.

On Sunday, Arabi told the meeting that the region was threatened by a ‘destructive’ force that threatened ‘ethnic and religious diversity,’ in an apparent reference to the Islamic State group jihadists.

‘What is important is that today there is an important decision, in light of the tumult afflicting the Arab world,’ he said.

Egypt had pushed for the creation of the rapid response force to fight militants, and the matter gained urgency this week after Saudi Arabia and Arab allies launched air strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Arabi on Sunday said the offensive would continue until the Houthis withdraw from regions they have overrun and surrender their weapons.

Several Arab states including Egypt are participating with their militaries in the campaign, which Saudi King Salman said on Saturday would continue until the Yemeni people ‘enjoy security’.

Despite the support for a joint-Arab force, it would still take months to create and then operate on an ad-hoc basis.

Four days of air strikes

The Saudi-led operation in Yemen has underlined the rivalry between the predominantly Sunni kingdom and Shiite Iran, and it could inflame sectarian proxy conflicts that have spread in the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.

Air strikes on Sunday, which marked four days into the Saudi-led campaign, hit the headquarters of the rebel Republican guard in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, killing 15 soldiers, a military official said.

Coalition warplanes also struck the runway of Sanaa's international airport, taking it out of service.

‘This was the first time they hit the runway,’ an aviation source said.

The Houthis began their offensive in September, seizing Sanaa, and later holding embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi under house arrest. The rebels later took over the government in Yemen and ultimately forced Hadi to flee the country in recent days.

On Saturday, Hadi directly accused Iran of being behind the Houthi offensive. Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though the Islamic Republic has provided humanitarian and other aid.

The same day, the United Nations also began evacuating its staff from Yemen citing security concerns.