UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Sunday voted to adopt a resolution that demands Houthi militia in Yemen withdraw from government institutions, calls for an end to foreign interference and threatens “further steps” if the violence does not stop.

The 15-member Council approved the resolution, drafted by Jordan and Britain, unanimously.

UN- led peace talks have failed since a Houthi takeover ousted President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his Cabinet last month.

But the resolution falls short of invoking Chapter Seven of the UN Charter allowing for military enforcement, a measure demanded by the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation bloc comprising Gulf states.

Since seizing power in January, the Houthis have dissolved parliament and set up their own ruling body.

They say they are carrying out a “revolution” against corrupt officials and economic ruin. The president and his ministers remain under rebel house arrest.

The UN has warned that Yemen is collapsing. Shia Houthi fighters have sidelined the central government after seizing the capital Sanaa in September and expanding across Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Al Qaeda and other Sunni Muslim militants have since stepped up attacks.

Yemen is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the global network's most active arms, which has carried out attacks abroad.

The text, declares the council's readiness to take “further steps” if the resolution is not implemented by parties in Yemen.

In November, the council imposed sanctions on Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and two Houthi leaders.

The text “deplores actions taken by the Houthis to dissolve parliament and take over Yemen's government institutions, including acts of violence.”

It demanded the Houthis engage in good faith in UN- brokered negotiations on a political settlement, withdraw their forces from government institutions, release Yemen's president, prime minister and other cabinet members from house arrest and stop undermining the political transition and the security of Yemen.

The draft resolution “calls on all member states to refrain from external interference which seeks to foment conflict and instability and instead to support the political transition.”

The text “demands that all parties in Yemen, cease all armed hostilities against the people and the legitimate authorities of Yemen and relinquish the arms seized from Yemen's military and security institutions.”

Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in several cities on Saturday against the rule of the Houthi movement as clashes between Houthis and Sunnis in a southern mountainous region left 26 dead.

The draft text calls on all parties to ensure the security of diplomats and diplomatic premises.

Saudi Arabia, the United States and other western countries have closed embassies due to fears of worsening violence.