Street battles raged yesterday between rival troops as well as between warring tribesmen, as violence which has already killed dozens spread across Yemen’s capital, raising the specter of civil war.
The gun battles come after efforts to implement a Gulf-sponsored peace deal failed because of what its sponsors said were the soaring tensions between troops loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opponents of his regime.
At least four civilians were killed when they were caught in the crossfire of the fighting that broke out early yesterday between Republican Guard troops commanded by Saleh’s son Ahmed, and dissidents loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, witnesses and medics said. They said two women and a man were shot by snipers positioned on rooftops near and overlooking Change Square, the base of the anti-government protesters.
Another man died from wounds sustained when a mortar shell smashed into the square. Nine people were also wounded in the blast and several tents set up by protesters caught fire, witnesses said.
Yesterday’s deaths bring the toll in the capital to 89 since Sunday.
Fighting erupted later yesterday in Sana’a’s northern al-Hasaba district, when gunmen loyal to powerful dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar traded fire with followers of Saghir bin Aziz, a tribesman loyal to Saleh, witnesses said.
There was no indication of casualties from that fighting, which a reporter said was rapidly spreading to other neighborhoods.
“The city is empty. Schools, banks and businesses are shut as the ghost of war looms over Sana’a,” one resident said.
Another resident, who has been holed up in his home for days, said life had become unbearable. “My children haven’t slept in a week. They have nightmares every night from the shooting and the explosions,” said Amin al-Faqih, 42, a father of three.
“My children beg me every day to take them to a place far far away from here, away from the nightly explosions and gunfire,” he said.
Commuters said government forces have closed all entrances to the capital, with no cars allowed in or out.
The soaring levels of violence have raised long standing fears that Yemen, which is facing a Shiite rebellion in the north and the growing influence of al-Qaeda in the south, is slipping towards full blown civil war.
Speaking to reporters late on Wednesday, UN envoy Jamal Benomar said the deteriorating security situation and the reluctance of both sides to reach a political resolution, raises “the risk of civil war breaking out.”
Benomar arrived in Yemen on Tuesday where he and Gulf Cooperation Council chief Abdullatif al-Zayani have been working to broker a peace deal between the warring parties.
Al-Zayani left Yemen on Wednesday after efforts to reach a political consensus failed. He is expected in New York today to discuss the Yemeni crisis with GCC foreign ministers and international diplomats who are gathered at the UN for the annual General Assembly meeting, a Yemeni diplomat said, requesting anonymity.
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