The Yemeni foreign minister has called for Gulf Arab states to intervene to prevent the advance of Shia Houthi rebels into the south of the country.

The Houthis ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi last month, who fled to the southern port city of Aden where he established a rival power base.

At the weekend, the Houthis seized Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, bringing them closer to Aden.

The UN has warned that Yemen is on the edge of civil war.

Hadi's Foreign Minister Riad Yassin told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper he asked the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to intervene, without elaborating what that would mean.

He also said he had asked the UN and GCC to impose a no-fly zone, after warplanes hit the presidential palace in Aden over the weekend.

The Houthis' rise has alarmed the GCC, and in particular Sunni-controlled Saudi Arabia, which accuses the Houthis of being a proxy for their key regional rival, Shia-majority Iran. Both of them have denied the Saudi claims.

Also on Monday, the Saudi foreign minister warned the Gulf states could take action to shore-up Hadi.