Yemen’s Foreign Minister has called for military assistance from Gulf Arab states to stop the advance of Shia Houthi fighters into the south of the country.<br /><br /> Riyadh Yassen told reporters: “We have requested this (military intervention) for the sake of speed because time is not in anyone’s favour, especially not in the favour of those behind constitutional legitimacy.”<br /><br /> The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September. They seized Taiz, the country’s third largest city, at the weekend.<br /><br /> The Yemeni President, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, ousted by the Houthis, has established a power centre in the southern port city of Aden.<br /><br /> The advance of the Houthis – who share a Shi’te Muslim ideology with Iran – has alarmed the Gulf states.<br /><br /> Saudi Arabia’s government has said that it will take “necessary measures to protect the region from aggression.”<br /><br /> The United Nations has warned that Yemen is on the brink of civil war.
