THE civil war in Yemen looks set to become an international flashpoint after Pakistan revealed yesterday that it has been asked to help invade the country.

Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that he had been approached by the Saudi-led coalition over whether Islamabad could provide soldiers.

Mr Asif spoke as parliament debated the war in Yemen, where a rebellion by the Shi’ite Houthis has taken control of most of the country.

The Saudi Arabian monarchy, which enforces an extreme version of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, claims the Houthis are a proxy for the Shi’ite theocracy in Iran and has been bombing their positions for 12 days.

The Egyptian military has also piled in to defend Yemen’s absent President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee by the Houthi advance.

But air strikes have so far failed to drive the rebels back and Saudi authorities are said to be considering a full-scale invasion.

Aid planes which received permission from Riyadh at the weekend to deliver medical supplies to Yemen have still not carried out their missions, International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Clair Feghali said yesterday.

She blamed “logistical problems” for the delay in offering humanitarian help to victims of a conflict which has claimed over 500 lives in the last two weeks.

If Pakistan joins the war, that could inflame sectarian tensions between its Sunni and Shi’ite communities. Islamabad is also still battling Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the north-east.