RABAT

Morocco said Wednesday that it had joined a Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite Houthi group to "defend legitimacy" in the crisis-hit Arab country, insisting that its participation did not amount to a declaration of war.

"We have participated in the Saudi-led campaign to defend legitimacy and demonstrate our rejection of any action that could threaten Yemen's territorial integrity," government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi said at a press briefing in capital Rabat.

He added that his country had contributed to previous peacekeeping missions and had cooperated with the United Arab Emirates in the fight against the Daesh militant group.

He stressed that Moroccan participation in the Yemen campaign should be viewed in the context of "Arab solidarity."

Several other Arab states have joined the Saudi-led campaign against Yemen's Houthis, including Jordan and Egypt.

Saudi Arabia says the campaign comes in response to appeals by Yemen's embattled president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."

Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country.

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.