RIYADH: A team of surgeons on Thursday morning began the complex operation to separate Yemeni conjoined twins Mawaddah and Rahma, state news agency SPA has reported. The 11-hour operation, funded by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), aims to safely separate the two, who were born conjoined to the lower chest and abdomen. Earlier examinations showed the twin girls share a liver and intestines and are suspected to be attached by a heart membrane. The procedure, upon the directives from King Salman, is being done at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh. The team of 28 doctors, specialists, and nurses will perform the delicate surgical procedures in six stages involving the separation of the liver and intestines and organ reconstruction. KSRelief’s Saudi Conjoined Twins Programme has so far sponsored 52 separation surgeries involving over 124 twins from 23 countries, according to SPA.