United Nations, April 4 (RHC) -- The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the current situation in Yemen.  The meeting took place behind closed doors, and Jordan, one of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, is the rotating council president for April.

The Yemeni crisis has become the focus of the ongoing Arab summit led by Egypt and attended by 20 Arab monarchs and presidents, including fleeing Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, amid an ongoing Saudi-led military airstrikes against targets of Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Yemen has mired in political gridlock since 2011 when mass protests forced former President Ali Abdullash Saleh to step down.

The three-year reconciliation talks failed to resolve the crisis but create huge power vacuum that could benefit the powerful al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other extremist groups.