The Saudi-led coalition waging air strikes in Yemen takes its offensive to the diplomatic stage today, seeking a UN demand that rebels retreat and an arms embargo and sanctions against their leaders.
The draft UN Security Council resolution put forward by Jordan and Gulf countries could be blocked by veto-wielding Russia which has friendly relations with Iran, an ally of the Shiite Huthi rebels.
It comes as fears grow of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country, which has sunk deeper into violence and chaos since the coalition launched an air war on the Huthis and allied rebel troops on March 26.
A military source said armed tribesmen had seized control of Yemen's only gas export terminal in Balhaf in the southern province of Shabwa on Tuesday and had vowed to secure the site after soldiers assigned to protect it surrendered.
The terminal's operator Yemen LNG, in which France's Total has a stake of almost 40 percent, said it had stopped production at the facility due to a "force majeure".
But a Total spokesman said Yemen LNG still controlled the terminal and that the perimeter had not been breached.
A local official said the dead bodies of 15 soldiers from an army brigade guarding Balhaf and oil pipelines in Shabwa were found on the outskirts of the provincial capital Ataq.
It was unclear who killed them.
The draft UN resolution is the first formal measure to come up for a vote in the Security Council since the start of the Saudi-led bombing raids.
The campaign by Saudi Arabia and a coalition of five Gulf monarchies along with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan has so far failed to stop the rebel advance.
The draft resolution, obtained by AFP, demands that the Huthis withdraw from the capital Sanaa and all other areas they have seized.
It would place Huthi leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi and ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh's eldest son, Ahmed, on a sanctions list, imposing a global travel ban and an assets freeze on the two men.
The Huthis have allied with troops loyal to Saleh to fight Hadi loyalists.
Saleh, who was forced from power in 2012 following a year of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule, belongs to the same Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam as the Huthis.
The draft resolution, which the Security Council is scheduled to vote on at 1500 GMT, would impose an embargo on the sale of arms to the Huthi leaders targeted by sanctions and their allies.
Russia has argued that the embargo should apply to all sides in the conflict, not just the Huthis.
