As many as 169 people have been reportedly killed in Yemen in the last three days as Iran-aligned Houthis battle Saudi-backed government forces for control of strategic heights on the Red Sea coast, while thousands flee the violence.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has agreed to give military support to Saudi Arabia to help it tackle attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis, media reports said on Monday.
British planes will provide "defensive" air-to-air refuelling for Saudi jets, he told reporters as he travelled to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The UK mission will be limited to supporting Saudi aircraft defending the country from attack from drones and missiles rather than supporting strikes against the Houthis, the PA news agency reported.
The use of the Voyager tanker is expected to start within days and the mission will be time-limited, with officials indicating it could last for "weeks".
The refuelling mission is in addition to the UK Sky Sabre air defence system already deployed in Saudi Arabia.
Burnham told reporters he was "acting to secure the interests of Britain and the wider region because, of course, Saudi Arabia has been experiencing attacks, is looking at potential further disruption, and we need to keep those pathways open, and hence our agreement to the request", according to the reports.
Houthi military officials said at least 118 people had been killed in clashes as well as Saudi air and artillery strikes on Taiz, al-Jawf, Marib and Saada provinces since Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported. Yemeni government sources have said at least 36 people have been killed on their side of the conflict.
The clashes have compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis, where about 22 million people need humanitarian assistance and 5.2 million people are already internally displaced.
Members of the G7 have called on Iran to stop arming the Houthis. In a joint statement released ahead of the UN general assembly, member states urged the Houthis to stop their strikes on Saudi Arabia, which have damaged key oil infrastructure and wounded dozens.
"We call on the Houthis to immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith," the statement read.
The clashes have killed about 700 people and displaced more than 100,000 people, pushing some Yemenis to flee the fighting via sea. Civilians have fled westwards across the Red Sea to Djibouti, while aid groups warn conditions for those remaining in Yemen are deteriorating.
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