GCC Secretary General Jasem Albudaiwi is in Yemen on an official visit to the city of Aden, the first such undertaking by the head of the group in eight years.

The GCC general secretariat confirmed the visit on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday but has yet to announce further details on Mr Albudaiwi’s visit.

Photos and a video posted by the Yemeni Foreign Ministry showed Mr Albudaiwi arriving at Aden International Airport on a Saudi coalition C-130 Hercules plane.

The last visit by the body’s chief to Yemen was made by Mr Albudaiwi’s predecessor, Abdullatif Al Zayani, Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the southern city of Aden in February 2015.

The civil war began in September 2014, when Houthi forces took over the capital city Sanaa.

Mr Al Zayani's visit in 2015 came a few days after former Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi managed to reach the city of Aden from Sanaa, breaking the house arrest imposed on him by the Iran-backed Houthi militia following their takeover of the capital.

For years, the GCC, including Oman and Kuwait, has been a mediator between the country's warring sides in an attempt to bring them back on the negotiating table.

In April, Saudi Arabia started peace talks with the Houthis in Sanaa to try to revive a nationwide truce and restart the political process.

Hopes of a breakthrough were raised after the kingdom's rapprochement with Iran in March.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, visited the city of Marib, east of Sanaa, and met a member of the Presidential Leadership Council and the Governor of Marib province.

It was the first visit by the UN envoy to the city of Marib, which is under the control of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.