Arab Leaders Green Light Joint Military Force

Arab leaders are unveiling plans to form a joint military force aimed at intervening on behalf of any Arab nation facing a national security threat.

The announcement came during a two-day summit at which they also vowed to defeat the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthis in Yemen.

Leaders said the airstrikes against the Houthis will continue until they "withdraw and surrender their weapons."

"I don't know that anyone wants to go into Yemen in terms of land forces, but we don't rule anything out," Saudi Arabia U.S. Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir said. "We have sufficient forces in the current coalition, if need be, to go into Yemen. But right now the objective is being achieved through an air campaign."

Al-Jubeir told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen is meant to protect the "legitimate government from a group that is allied and supported by Iran and Hezbollah."

Last Thursday, a Saudi-led coalition began targeted airstrikes on Houthis strongholds, paving the way for a possible ground invasion.

The Houthis began their offensive in September, seizing Sanaa,Yemen's capital, and forcing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country.