Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
Abd-Rabbu Mansour HadiReuters

Yemen’s president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Tuesday night thanked Saudi Arabia and the Arab military coalition for their support of his "legitimacy", Reuters reports.

"I extend on my behalf and on behalf of the Yemeni people sincere thanks and appreciation for the Arab and Muslim brothers and our partners in the coalition for supporting legitimacy," he said in a televised speech from exile in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Hadi’s praise came hours after Saudi Arabia announced the end of its almost month-long campaign to bomb Hadi's rivals in the Iran-allied Houthi rebel group and their loyalists in the army.

"Operation Decisive Storm" was launched on March 26, and has included a total of 2,415 airstrikes.

According to a Saudi defense ministry statement the operation has "succeeded," and has destroyed ballistic missiles belong to the Houthis and militias loyal to deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Iran also welcomed the end of the operation, saying that “the crisis in Yemen had no military solution, and ... a halt to killing innocent and defenseless people is absolutely a step forward.”

The White House also commented on the issue, welcoming Saudi Arabia's decision to halt the airstrikes and urging talks to end the crisis in Yemen.

"The United States welcomes today's announcement by the government of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners of the conclusion of Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen," National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey told AFP.

"We continue to support the resumption of a UN-facilitated political process and the facilitation of humanitarian assistance."