The ceasefire agreement that briefly ended street fighting in the Yemeni capital between tribal groups and forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh broke down on May 30th. The agreement came into place after 115 people were killed as a result of a vicious battle between the two sides that used machine guns, mortars, and rocket propelled grenades to abolish the other side in Sanaa (Sudam). .
Sanaa residents heard heavy explosions and sporadic gunfire early in the morning, although they were unsure what caused the noises. The noises were reportedly coming from the Hasabah neighborhood, home to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, leader of the al-Hashid tribe whose forces oppose the government. The previous day security forces set fire to tents and tore through demonstrators' camps in Freedom Square in Taiz with bulldozers (Sudam). A government spokesman, Abdu Ganadi, said protestors' tents were burned by people attacked by the protestors, and that tents that were burned were all empty. The weekends' protests left 20 people dead and 200 wounded according to eyewitnesses. Those left standing refused to be deterred (Jamjoom). .
"Our revolution will not stop even if hundreds are killed every day," claimed Sameer Al-Samaee, a leading youth activist in Taiz. "Killing innocent civilians always leads to war crime charges and that is what we are seeking for Saleh" (Jamjoom). .
The day before, 21 Yemeni soldiers were killed when Yemen's air force dropped bombs on the city of 20,000 near the Gulf of Aden (Sudam). .
Fighting raged on Sunday in Zinjibar, prompting government forces to launch airstrikes against Islamic militants. Furthermore, the nation's largest cell phone network, SABAFON, was ordered to shut down reportedly because of violations and unpaid fines over the past few years. However, coincidentally the al-Ahmar family is a majority shareholder in SABAFON and many believe the move was tactical to pressure members of the family (Jamjoom).
