Yemen appeared to tip closer to all out civil war on Wednesday as government troops and opposition tribesmen battled to control key positions in the capital and foreign diplomats boarded planes to flee.
But a powerful general who defected to the opposition in March has continued to keep his troops on the sidelines, leaving open the question of whether the heavy fighting would be contained to areas of the capital, Sana, and several other cities, or whether it could engulf the country.
Around the heavily fortified headquarters of Yemen’s state-run television station in Sana, government forces fired shells at tribal fighters loyal to the family of Hamid al-Ahmar, the strongest tribal rival of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who clings to power in the face of months of protests and days of mounting chaos.
On Wednesday, Kuwait, a Gulf council member, recalled its diplomats from the country’s embassy in Sana because of the “deteriorated security situation in Yemen,” Kuwait’s state-run KUNA news agency reported. A day earlier, Italy said it had temporarily shut its embassy and withdrawn its staff. The United States Embassy remains open, but last week advised all American civilians to leave the country.
Violence flared again overnight in the Hasaba neighborhood of Sana, the scene of the most intense fighting between Ahmar forces and government troops, who renewed their pitched clashes after a brief cease-fire broke down late Monday. Tribesmen controlled large portions of the neighborhood on Wednesday, including many of the ministries and other government buildings there, though the government disputed claims that the Interior Ministry had been overrun.
Heavy casualties were reported in the capital, with estimates ranging as high as 41 killed from both government forces and Ahmar tribesmen. A spokesman for the Ahmar family put the tribal casualties at 10 dead and 31 wounded.
The government was “randomly” shelling the Hasaba area “from military camps at the mountains around the capital,” the spokesman, Abdul Qawi al-Qaisi, said.
South of the capital, the city of Taiz remained in a state of lockdown Wednesday with security forces and Republican Guards moving swiftly to disperse even the smallest gatherings in the streets, residents said.
The city had been the site of Yemen’s largest antigovernment sit-in until a deadly crackdown early this week by government forces and plainclothes gunmen cleared protesters from the square they had occupied since February. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had received reports that as many as 50 people died.
In the southern coastal city of Zinjibar, bodies lay in the streets, witness said, as Yemeni troops fought with Islamic militants who took control over the weekend.