Britain and the United States have urged all their nationals to leave Yemen and most American diplomats and their families were evacuated yesterday. Britain followed suit by reducing their embassy numbers "to a level sufficient only to work on the most pressing and vital British national interests in Yemen."
For much of the day the city echoed to the crump of exploding mortar shells and heavy bursts of machine gunfire as troops loyal to Mr Saleh clashed with militiamen controlled by Sadiq al-Ahmar, a powerful tribal chief and former ally.
Up to 40 people were killed, bringing the death toll to more than 100 since Sunday, when Mr Saleh reneged on a pledge to stand down for a third time, despite intense pressure from the West to go.
The violence has all but ended Yemen's hopes of following the leads of Egypt and Tunisia by overthrowing an autocratic leader through people power alone after three months of mass protests demanding the president's resignation.
Instead, the country, long one of the Arab world's most unstable, is facing the prospect of a deadly conflict between the remnants of Mr Saleh's army and heavily armed tribal militias once held in check by the president's effective but corrupt system of patronage. » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, May 26, 2011
