Pakistan to send top delegation

Pakistan's government yesterday said it will dispatch a top civil-military delegation to Saudi Arabia following Riyadh's request that it join a coalition to defend Yemen's president, promising a "strong response" to any threat to the Gulf kingdom.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to send the group to Saudi Arabia today after meeting with top defence and military officials in Islamabad late Thursday, his office said in a statement.

"The meeting concluded that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan," it said, adding that Pakistan's defence minister and Sharif's national security advisor would travel to the country, along with top military figures.

The Gulf kingdom has begun air strikes against Shia Huthi rebels and the Saudi ambassador in Washington said a coalition of 10 countries, including Pakistan, was being formed to protect the Yemeni government.

The rebels and their allies had been closing in on main southern city Aden, where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been holed up since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa last month.

Their advance raised Saudi fears that the Shia minority rebels would seize control of the whole of its Sunni-majority neighbour and take it into the orbit of Shia Iran.

Yemen is teetering on the brink of civil war as turmoil has grown since Huthis launched a power grab in February.