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Thursday 2 June 2011

All Flights Suspended at Sanaa as Civil War Erupts in Yemen

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The situation in Yemen has deteriorated into civil war between President Saleh’s forces and opposition tribes.
Rebel forces shouting anti-government slogans © Al Arabiya 

Overnight 15 people were killed in clash with the Government security forces ramping up tensions in the country. Fighting has now escalated to full conflict and the Yemeni air-force is now conducting...


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airstrikes on opposition forces near Sana’a International Airport. All flights have been suspended at El Rahaba Airport and shows that Yemen’s situation is fast escalating into civil war..

Reports of Saleh’s elite Republican Guard army unit have burnt down the opposition TV station, Suhail TV, in the Yemini capital to control the airwaves and enforce his his message throughout Yemen in what is becoming an all out war for survival by President Saleh.

Protesters in the capital are now for the first time armed as all sides are taking a hardline approach and are not willing to concede terms.


Trained by the US and UK, Yemen’s Special Forces have recaptured the buildings of the Government Ministry of Trade, Tourism, Land Registry from the tribal forces, it is unknown if there were any deaths related in this operation.


The residential area of ​​Hasaba in the capital has been targeted by artillery strikes all morning and the government is taking increasing draconian measures to quell the opposition. State Yemen news agency SABA, has stated that reports of the artillery strikes in the Hasaba area and that that Sana’a International Airport closure is incorrect and the foreign media is ‘’lying’’, this is despite widespread reports that on the ground to the contrary.


As well as in Sana’a full out fighting is also taking place in the south-eastern Yemen in the city of Taiz where the government Republican Guard has targeted journalists and fire live rounds at members of the press core..


The Yemeni Air Force jets are bombing targets in Amran, the stronghold of the al-Ahmars, one of the main tribal leaders against President Saleh and also an ally of Saudi Arabia.


As fighting in the country continues Abdul Rahman Bafadil of the International Criminal Court issues an international arrest warrant for President Saleh on war crime charges.


Opposition forces have also surrounded the Presidential Palace in Taiz and the main square know to the tribal forces and the protestor as ‘Freedom Square’ in an non violent move to oust the government.

Thos crisis now is also a threat to the West’s economy with the main Gulf oil shipping lanes just off the coast of Yemen and putting at risk the oil security. It is therefore likely that Saudi Arabia, the only real military force in the region with US insistence will conduct some sort of operation and force President Saleh hand to step down with immediate effect, if he doesn’t choose to do so ‘voluntarily'.


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