Sanaa residents shelter from ‘ street war’ as clashes rage
Sanaa ( Yemen), Dec. 3: Fresh clashes forced schools shut and shops shuttered in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday, as residents warned a three- year rebel alliance was crumbling into a ‘ street war’.
Witnesses said forces loyal to powerful ex- president Ali Abdullah Saleh had cut off a number of streets in central Sanaa and deployed heavily in anticipation of a possible attack by the Huthi rebels.
Loyalists of the former strongman renewed a bid to seize control of AlJarraf district, a stronghold of the Iran- backed Huthis, while fortified their with dozens of mounted with guns.
Residents of various neighbourhoods said they had barricaded themselves in their homes to avoid snipers and shelling as clashes flared up around key ministries where the two sides had been working together just days before.
The education ministry cancelled classes on Sunday, normally the start of the school week, out of concern for students and teachers.
Witnesses
Iyad al- Othmani, 33, said he had not left his house for three days because of the clashes and tensions.
Mohammed Abdullah, a private sector employee, said his street had been cut off by militiamen and he was staying home to avoid checkpoints.
“Sanaa is becoming like a ghost town. There is a street war and people are holed up in their houses,” according to a local activist who works with the International Organisation for Migration in Sanaa.
“If the confrontation continues, many families will be cut off” and stranded in their homes, he warned.
Yemen’s controlling Sanaa has unravelled in recent days with security forces reporting some 60 combatants killed in clashes between the two sides across the capital, including at the international airport. On Saturday, Saleh reaching out to a Saudi- led coalition that launched a military intervention against the Huthis in 2015, offering to “turn the page” if the coalition lifts a crippling blockade on the country. Sanaa airport and rebel- held sea ports have been under a tightened blockade since a missile fired by the Huthis was intercepted.