Pakistan declines Saudi call for armed support in Yemen fight

People bury victims of a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa April 10, 2015. Coalition air strikes hit Yemen for a sixteenth straight day. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

ADEN (Reuters) - Pakistan's parliament voted on Friday not to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, dashing Riyadh's hopes for powerful support from outside of the region in its fight to halt Iranian-allied Houthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia had asked fellow Sunni-majority Pakistan to provide ships, aircraft and troops for the campaign, now in its third week, to stem the influence of Shi'ite Iran in what appears to be proxy war between the Gulf's two dominant powers.