DOHA: Yemen’s government will request membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a powerful grouping of Gulf states, the country’s spokesman said yesterday.

“We will present a plan in Saudi Arabia next month that will prepare Yemen to be included in the GCC,” Rajeh Badi told Reuters by telephone from Qatar.

A Saudi-led alliance has been bombing the Shia Houthi militia in Yemen for weeks but has failed to reverse the Iran-allied group’s dominance on battlefronts across the country or to prepare for the exiled Saudi-backed government to return.

Meanwhile, Iran proposed to hold UN talks on ending the conflict in Yemen at a neutral venue. 

AFP