UAE condemns Houthi 'occupation' of Yemen embassy

The United Arab Emirates condemned the "occupation" of its embassy in Sanaa by Yemen's Houthi militias, the foreign ministry has said in a statement demanding the group's immediate exit from the compound.

"This act is further evidence that the group that committed this attack does not show any regard or respect for international conventions and diplomatic norms, as it practises the law of the jungle," said the statement published late on Monday by the official UAE WAM news agency.

It "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the rebel storming of the embassy, which it said took place on Sunday.

The foreign ministry "stressed that the occupation of the embassy and the eviction of its staff will not deter the UAE's support for the restoration of stability to sisterly Yemen."

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which the UAE is a member, also released a statement condemning the "cowardly act".

The embassy takeover comes as supporters of Yemen's exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and fighters from the Southern Movement - which have been backed by the Saudi-led coalition - continued to make advances against the Houthis in several southern provinces as well as in the third city Taez, seen as a gateway to the Houthi-held capital.

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeted Houthi positions on Monday night in the western city of Hadida, while anti-Houthi forces advanced towards Houthi-controlled Taez, one of the Houthi's last bastions in the south, reported Al Jazeera.

The Houthi militias, allied with troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, seized the Yemeni capital in September last year.

They consolidated their grip on power in January, prompting an exodus of foreign diplomats from the capital.

Embassy stormed

The UAE shut its embassy in Sanaa and announced it would open another in southern city Aden, which was later the scene of intense fighting before Southern Front and pro-Hadi troops retook the city in mid-July.

It is unclear how many employees were at the Sanaa embassy or if it had been operational when it was stormed.

Saudi-owned newspaper al-Hayat has reported that 1,500 troops, most of them from the UAE, had entered Aden in support of loyalists.

Official Emirati media says that six UAE soldiers have so far been killed in incidents linked to the Yemen fighting.

Facing the prospect of further defeats, the Houthis have in the last few weeks tried to step up attempts to negotiate a ceasefire. 

The latest rounds of talks began two weeks ago when Houthi negotiating teams and the country's one-time ruling party, the General People’s Congress, arrived in the Omani capital Muscat. They met with the United Nations Envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who presented a seven-point initiative, offering a window for a resolution to Yemen's devastating conflict.  

According to Hamza al-Houthi, who is also a senior member of the group's Political Bureau, key issues related to reaching a ceasefire were discussed, with the talks centring on the formation of a new "transitional ruling authority". Control of the capital is widely considered to be a major sticking point in any deal.