SANAA (AFP) - Yemen's Shiite rebels said Wednesday that their forces captured Defence Minister Mahmud al-Subaihi as they advanced towards Aden, the port city where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has taken refuge.

"Subaihi was arrested in the city of Houta" in Lahj province, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said in a statement aired by the militia's Al-Massira television.

Yemen's foreign minister called Wednesday for urgent military intervention in his country ahead of an Arab League summit in Egypt, as rebel forces closed in on the beleaguered government in Aden.

"We will ask the upcoming summit for urgent intervention," acting foreign minister Riyadh Yassin told reporters in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the two-day summit will begin Saturday.

"Military intervention," he stressed.

Yassin had told a Dubai-based news channel that President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi was still in Aden, denying an earlier claim that the leader had fled the country after anti-government fighters honed in on the southern port city where he has taken refuge.