Yemen on May 6 urged the UN Security Council "to quickly intervene by land forces to save" the country, specifically in the cities of Aden and Taiz.
The letter from Yemen's UN Ambassador Khaled Alyemany might foreshadow a widening of the Yemeni conflict into a land war between proxies of Saudi Arabia, which backs the deposed government there, and Iran, which backs Huthi rebels. It also could provide legal cover for such a widening move.
A Saudi-led coalition began a campaign of air strikes against Huthi rebels one day after Yemen notified the Security Council on March 24 that it had requested military help from Gulf Arab states.
The Saudi coalition sent a small ground force to Aden over the weekend as Huthi forces strengthened their hold over the city, but coalition commanders denied that a major ground offensive was looming.
Yemen's letter accused Huthis of killing civilians, blocking medical teams, "targeting anything that moves," and other "barbaric violations against a defenseless population."
