RIYADH

Saudi Arabia has said it would host talks among Yemen's political powers under the sponsorship of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with the aim of ending its neighbor's political crisis.

The announcement carried by state-run SPA news agency came in a statement by the Saudi royal court following a request from Yemeni President t Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, whose rule has been undermined by the takeover of the capital Sanaa by Shiite Houthi militants.

In a letter from Hadi to King Salman bin Abdelaziz, Hadi urged the GCC to sponsor a conference that would bring together "all Yemeni political powers that seek to preserve Yemen's stability and security" in Riyadh.

"The conference would aim to preserve Yemen's  stability and security in the framework of maintaining constitutional legitimacy and rejecting the [Houthi] coup," Hadi's letter said.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdelziz, in response, forwarded the request to the GCC, headquartered in Riyadh, and the bloc's leaders agreed to sponsor the talks, the SPA reported.

"The Council's member states welcomed the request...to hold the conference under the GCC auspices in Riyadh," the statement by the Saudi royal court said. Yet, the release did not state a specific date for the talks.

Last month, Hadi fled Sanaa – where he had been kept under house arrest by the Houthi militants for weeks – to Aden.

Upon his arrival, Hadi dismissed as "null" and "illegitimate" all recent Houthi-issued decrees. He also wrote to parliament withdrawing a resignation he had tendered earlier.

On Feb. 6, the Houthis issued what they described as a constitutional declaration dissolving parliament and establishing a 551-member transitional council.

The declaration, however, was rejected by most of Yemen's political forces – along with neighboring Gulf countries – which described it as a coup against constitutional legitimacy.