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Pakistan's parliament voted 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 the advance of Iranian-allied Houthi rebels, Reuters reported. 

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

While Saudi Arabia has the support of its Sunni Gulf Arab neighbors, Pakistan's parliament voted against becoming militarily involved.

It adopting a draft resolution calling on all sides to resolve their differences peacefully in a "deteriorating security and humanitarian situation" which has "implications for peace and stability of the region."

"[Parliament] desires that Pakistan should maintain neutrality in the Yemen conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis," it said, while expressing "unequivocal support for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" and promising to "stand shoulder to shoulder with Saudi Arabia and its people" if Saudi territory were violated.