Close To 70 Civilians Killed In Yemen In Span Of Three Days

Didn’t they have a meeting to deal with the realness of s*** in Yemen like 5 months ago???

Clearly someone missed the memo…

In the past three days, pro-regime forces killed more than 70 people, mostly protesters, using anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. At least 23 people were killed in Sanaa on Tuesday as the fighting intensified and spread to sensitive areas of the capital before the cease-fire took hold after nightfall.

In one incident, 13 followers of a tribal leader who changed sides and joined the opposition in March were killed when mortar shells fired by pro-government forces rained down on the upscale Hedah area of southern Sanaa, also home to top regime figures.

“It’s a war zone,” said Sanaa activist Hakim al-Masmari. “We can’t even sit near windows because we could be killed.”

Thousands have been forced to flee Sanaa for the relative safety of rural areas. Scores of pickup trucks and cars loaded with families and their belongings were seen early Tuesday heading out of the city, repeatedly shaken by loud explosions overnight.

The United States condemned the violence and called on all parties to exercise restraint. “We urge a prompt, impartial investigation into the events that led to the recent violence,” Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday.

A negotiated cease-fire Tuesday halted three days of fighting that killed dozens of people, but it will not hold without a quick resolution of the key dispute: Who will lead the nation.

A peaceful way out of Yemen’s seven-month crisis may not come easily, if at all, making it more likely to be settled in large-scale and ruinous street battles pitting renegade army soldiers and their allied tribal fighters against U.S.-trained forces loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and led by his son and one-time heir apparent, Ahmed.

Already, pro-regime forces reinforced their positions in their strongholds in the south of the capital, apparently in anticipation of renewed fighting. The potential for bloody strife has been shown in Yemen since the uprising against Saleh’s regime began in February, with hundreds of protesters killed and thousands wounded at the hands of security forces.

SMH. How do these people find time to fight this much when they have to pray five times a day?

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