Letter to security council that could provide legal cover for limited invasion by Saudi Arabia comes as Saudis propose five-day truce

Yemen’s exiled government has written to the UN security council to ask for a ground intervention to halt the advance of their rivals, the Houthi rebels.

The move, which could provide legal cover for a limited invasion by Saudi Arabia, came as the Saudis proposed a five-day truce and a day after humanitarian organisations in Yemen warned that life-saving assistance to the population could come to an end in a week if a blockade on fuel imports is not immediately lifted.

Clashes have continued in the southern port city of Aden, a stronghold of the exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.



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The exiled government’s letter, which was seen by Reuters and delivered to the security council by Yemen’s permanent mission to the UN, urges the international community “to quickly intervene by land forces to save” the country, specifically in the cities of Taiz and Aden, where on Wednesday the rebels seized control of a key administrative district.

The letter also calls for the documentation of abuses by the Houthi rebels and their allies.

Saudi Arabia and the US said a renewable, five-day ceasefire in Yemen’s war would start soon to facilitate aid to millions of civilians in need, if the rebels and their allies also agree to stop fighting.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Kerry, the US secretary of state, backs the Saudi peace proposal

At a joint news conference, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom would halt air strikes in Yemen and provide $274m in new assistance. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said the so-called “humanitarian pause” wouldn’t start for several days – enough time for diplomatic efforts to convince the Houthi rebels and their backers to accept the terms of the deal.

The Houthis, who hail from the province of Sa’ada in the north, are members of the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam. They took over Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, last autumn in a surprise offensive, and this year placed the president under house arrest.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A boy carries a bag of sugar to his family during food distribution by Yemeni volunteers in Taiz. Photograph: Abdulnasser Alseddik/AP

Hadi fled his detention to Aden, and later to Saudi Arabia, as the Houthis and troops allied with them advanced on the port city. A coalition led by the Saudis, fearful of the rebels’ close ties to Iran and Tehran’s growing influence in the region, launched an air campaign to halt their advance, after similar appeals for an intervention by the Hadi government.



The Saudis have so far showed a reluctance to intervene on the ground to secure Aden, and have instead air dropped supplies to loyalist fighters and trained a small number of Yemenis to help organise the local resistance to the Houthis.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Kerry shakes hands with Yemen’s exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Riyadh. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AFP/Getty Images

In a TV interview late on Wednesday, a Saudi military spokesman did not say whether his country would consider the request for international troops, though he did leave open the option of Saudi ground operations to stop mortar attacks on border towns.

The coalition is running out of options as the air strikes, while they have had some success in limiting the Houthi advance, have not changed the balance on the ground, and Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, has continued to slide into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.



On Wednesday, a pro-Houthi TV station aired footage from the Tawahi district in Aden after the rebel takeover. The fighting there left 120 people dead, mostly civilians, including 40 who died when the boat they were trying to flee the fighting in was shelled by the Houthis, according to Reuters.



Locals in Aden have accused the Houthis and their allies of arbitrary shelling and terrorising civilians.



The head of the local resistance to the Houthis , Naif al-Bakri, said: “The battle situation in Aden now requires an urgent ground intervention by the Arab coalition forces to prevent the fall of Aden.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People visit a man injured during clashes between tribal fighters who support the Saudi-led campaign and Houthi rebels, at his home in Taiz, Yemen. Photograph: Abdulnasser Alseddik/AP

The Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, which has lasted for six weeks, has left the country in dire straits, with hundreds of civilians and children killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the fighting.



Life under siege in Yemen: 'Bullets and shrapnel came into the house' Read more

Water and food as well as fuel shortages have been debilitating for civilians and hospitals, which lack electricity to operate their generators. A group of 22 humanitarian organisations operating in Yemen said on Wednesday that life-saving assistance would end within a week unless fuel could be imported into the blockaded country.



“Millions of lives are at risk, in particular children, and soon we will not be able to respond,” said Edward Santiago, the country director for Yemen at Save the Children.



The International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières issued a rare joint statement this week calling for unobstructed humanitarian access in the country, warning that “the situation is catastrophic and the population is facing extreme hardship”.