"Fighting in Yemen brings fears of new civil war; Battles intensify as tribal conflict begins to widen" by Nasser Arrabtee and Robert F. Worth, New York Times / June 2, 2011
SANA, Yemen — Yemen edged closer to civil war yesterday as fighting spread to new parts of the country and government troops waged increasingly bloody street battles with opposition tribesmen for control of crucial areas in the capital.
The violence has transformed a largely peaceful uprising into a tribal conflict with no clear end in sight. The United States and Yemen’s Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, which have tried to mediate a peaceful solution to the country’s political crisis, are reduced to sitting on the sidelines and pleading for restraint.
Uh-huh.
Yes, the poor, powerful U.S. that can rain down bombs on anyone was so reduced by the Yemeni leader.
Was the pleading delivered with the military aid check?
The bloodshed also threatens to unleash a humanitarian catastrophe as Yemen, already the poorest country in the Arab world, runs desperately low on gasoline, cooking oil, and other basic supplies. It also raises fears that Islamic militants who use Yemen as a base will have even freer rein to operate.
The rising chaos has become a major concern for the White House....
So when are the Saudis going to be sent in like Bahrain?
Some estimates of the death toll in fighting late Tuesday and early yesterday ranged as high as 41 on both sides. All told, at least 120 people have been killed since the violence began early last week. A brief cease-fire struck over the weekend collapsed Tuesday, with each side blaming the other.
In recent days, the government’s tenuous hold has slipped further outside the capital. Tribal fighters and Islamist militants seized a major southern coastal town and tribesmen took over critical checkpoints east of Sana.
The southern city of Taiz remained in a state of lockdown, days after government forces and plainclothes gunmen opened fire on a vast crowd of peaceful protesters who had been holding a sit-in for months. Dozens of people were killed, according to witnesses and human rights groups, and the episode provoked condemnations from the United States and other countries.
Halfhearted condemnations at best.
In the capital, government security forces have tried in recent days to disrupt a similar peaceful sit-in by protesters that has lasted for months. But Major General Ali Moshin al-Ahmar’s troops have protected them.
Most of the protesters in Sana and in cities across Yemen have held fast to their belief in nonviolent resistance, but some have begun to call for war, especially after the massacre in Taiz.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.
“For me and others like me here in the square, we are convinced that peaceful means would not work, since they did not work over these last four months,’’ said Ahmed Obadi, a young protester and teacher.
The forces arrayed against the government have diverse and sometimes conflicting agendas, but the rising chaos appears to have emboldened them all, including the Yemen-based group that calls itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has become a major concern for the United States....
Yeah, anywhere a people don't support a U.S. stooge or the empire's agenda they are "terrorists."
--more--"
"Yemen heads toward tribal power struggle" by Associated Press, June 3, 2011
SANA, Yemen — Thousands of tribesmen threatened yesterday to descend on Yemen’s capital to join the battle against forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh as the country slid deeper into an all-out fight for power. Government forces in Sana unleashed some of the heaviest shelling yet against their tribal rivals in a dramatic escalation of the conflict.
For months, youth-led protesters have tried to drive out Saleh peacefully. But their campaign has been transformed into an armed showdown between Yemen’s two most powerful families, the president’s and the Ahmar clan. The Ahmar family heads the country’s strongest tribal confederation, which has vowed to topple Saleh after 33 years in power.
Their nearly two week-old battle in Sana raises a dangerous new potential in Yemen: that tribal fighting could metastasize and spread across the impoverished nation. Tribes hold deep loyalty among Yemen’s 25 million people, and the death of a member can easily draw relatives into a spiral of violence....
Deeply worrisome to the United States in particular is the possibility Al Qaeda branch in Yemen — one of the terror network’s most active franchises — will exploit the chaos.
Oh, I'm sure they will. Al-CIA-Duh always does!
In Sana, Saleh’s troops battered Ahmar’s positions with some of the heaviest artillery bombardments of the conflict....
--more--"
What you give is what you get:
"Yemen’s president injured in attack" by Associated Press / June 4, 2011
SANA, Yemen — President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded when rebellious tribesmen struck his palace with rockets yesterday, targeting him for the first time in a dramatic escalation of fighting that has turned parts of the capital into a battleground and pushed Yemen toward civil war....
Isn't the agenda-pushing, sides-taking media great? Saleh's escalations are nothing of the kind according to them.
There were indications the injuries may have been more severe. Saleh, in his late 60s, was taken to a Defense Ministry hospital, while officials promised repeatedly that he would soon appear in public.
But by late yesterday, state TV had aired only an audio message from the president, with an old still photo.
“If you are well, I am well,’’ Saleh said in the brief message, addressing Yemenis. He spoke in a labored voice, his breathing at times heavy.
What, am I supposed to be feeling sorry for the scum?
He blamed the rocket attack on “this armed gang of outlaws,’’ referring to the tribal fighters, and called on “all sons of the military around the country to confront’’ them.
After the rocket attack, government forces intensified shelling on Sana’s Hassaba district, the epicenter of the fighting where rival tribal leader Sheik Sadeq al-Ahmar’s residential compound is located. Many of the compound’s buildings and surrounding houses have been heavily damaged by days of bombardment.
--Rocket attack injures Yemen president--"
Sunday Globe A S*** REWRITE, so I'm winging it with you:
"Protesters celebrate departure of Yemen's leader" by Ahmed Al-Haj Associated Press / June 5, 2011
Yemeni army soldiers lifted by anti-government protestors, chants slogans and wave their national flag as they celebrate President Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure to Saudi Arabia, in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, June 5, 2011. Thousands of protesters are dancing and singing in the Yemeni capital Sanaa after the country's authoritarian leader flew to Saudi Arabia to receive medical treatment for wounds he suffered in a rocket attack on his compound. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
SANAA, Yemen—Protesters danced, sang and slaughtered cows in the central square of Yemen's capital Sunday to celebrate the departure of the country's authoritarian leader for medical treatment after he was wounded in a rocket attack on his compound.
If the Yemenis are happy, I'm happy.
There was no official announcement on who was acting as head of state. But under Yemen's constitution, the vice president takes over for up to 60 days when the head of state is absent. Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met Sunday with the U.S. ambassador, the strongest indication yet that he is in charge.
Yemen's conflict began as a peaceful uprising that the government at times used brutal force to suppress. It transformed in recent weeks to a more violent struggle for power when formal tribal allies of President Ali Abdullah Saleh turned against him and transformed the streets of the capital Sanaa into a war zone....
Yes, it was the peaceful and patient people of Yemen that initiated the violence, yup.
Other forces rose against Saleh at the same time. There were high-level defections within his military, and Islamist fighters took over at least one town in the south in the past two weeks. Saleh blamed the tribal rivals for the attack on his compound Friday that killed 11 bodyguards and wounded at least five senior government officials in addition to the president.
The protesters celebrated Sunday at Sanaa's Change Square, the epicenter of a nationwide protest movement since mid-February calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down immediately after nearly 33 years. Some uniformed soldiers joined those dancing and singing patriotic songs and were hoisted on the shoulders of the crowd. Many in the jubilant crowd waved Yemeni flags, joyfully whistling and flashing the "V" for victory signs.
Women in black veils joined demonstrators carrying banners that hailed Saleh's departure....
:-)
Activist and rights lawyer Khaled al-Ansi said families and children were arriving in the square in party clothes.
"It is like a holiday," he said....
Saleh's injuries provided him with what could turn out to be a face-saving solution to exit power....
Only after they had to damn near kill him.
A Saudi medical official said his condition was "not good."
**********
The president's departure was shrouded in extreme secrecy and many in the government did not know of his early Sunday departure until he had actually arrived in Saudi Arabia....
--more--"
Related: Amid revolt, Yemen leader exits country for medical aid (By Sudarsan Raghavan and Ernesto Londono, Washington Post)
That's your web version, and I no longer care to read NYT or WaPo crap.
