SANA, Yemen — The northern part of the capital city has turned into a virtual war zone in recent days, and even as the government announced a cease-fire on Tuesday, explosions boomed across the city.
The failure to end the bloodshed was another sign that fighting has intensified between the nation’s elites, a dynamic that began to unfold when antigovernment protests began months ago, inadvertently aggravating longstanding rivalries between heavily armed groups. The largely peaceful protesters still camped out in the streets, calling for democracy, remain a vulnerable backdrop to an armed conflict that has defied resolution.
On Tuesday, at least two more protesters were killed.
“We will fight them until they return to the right path,” said Sheik Sagheer bin Aziz, a tribal leader from northern Yemen who is an ally of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and has taken up the fight against the opposition.
Mr. Aziz’s house is perched on a hill that overlooks the worst of war-torn Sana, and it has clearly become a target for opposition forces in the expanding urban combat. Chunks are missing from the walls from mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades. The windows are filled in with bricks and all the neighbors have fled to safety.
Only armed tribesmen backed by security forces patrol the nearby streets. This is how Yemen’s protracted standoff has evolved, into a range of proxy battles. In mid-September, Mr. Aziz agreed to fight on behalf of Mr. Saleh against the Ahmars, a rival clan of tribal leaders who are supported by their own armed tribesmen, and a defected military commander, Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, who is not related.
“They are calling for civil state, but they are doing just the opposite,” Mr. Aziz said of the opposition. “Their actions are different from what they are saying. You can see they have weapons like mortars and heavy artillery everywhere. This speaks for their goals.”
Similar battles are seen elsewhere in Soufan and in Hasaba, both districts in northern Sana where sandbags are lined up in the middle of abandoned streets and on roofs of homes. Beside one government building on the perimeter of Hasaba, an abandoned shed was used to store weapons.
Last week, at least two shells fell close to the central Tahrir Square, drawing the bloodshed farther south. The continued fighting has broken down the overall security situation, and it is not uncommon to hear heavy gunfire across the capital.
The same is true outside of Sana, too. Taiz, a city in central Yemen where tribesmen with links to General Ahmar took up arms against government forces, is under near nightly bombardment. At least seven civilians died on Tuesday from the mortar attacks there, according to a local doctor.
“It’s clear that neither side can actually win this, so it’s basically posturing for political gains either domestically or internationally,” Ali Obeid, director of the strategic research center at the Ministry of Defense, said of the violence in the capital. Mr. Obeid emphasized that civil war has yet to break out, but “the tensions are increasing.”
The fighting appears to have grown more sustained since Mr. Saleh returned from Saudi Arabia, where he was recovering from severe wounds he suffered in a bomb attack. Shortly after he returned, one of the protest leaders, Tawakkol Karman, learned that she would share the Nobel Peace Prize, an announcement that offered a brief respite from protracted conflict.
On Tuesday, there were two signs that perhaps Yemen would be able to move beyond the increasingly bloody standoff. First, the government announced the cease-fire, which delivered a call for peace, if not an actual end to the fighting.
The Yemeni government “announces an end to armed elements and a cease-fire in the capital Sana, to be in place starting at 3 p.m. Tuesday,” said a statement from the official Saba news agency. The government “urges all parties to abide by the agreed plan and timetable set for implementation and to ensure access to the eventual return of all troops to their camps,” the statement continued, adding that the government had “the right to take all necessary action against anyone who violates” the cease-fire announcement.
Then, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Saleh had met with the United States ambassador to discuss stepping down, a statement that, like the cease-fire announcement, may prove to lead nowhere.
Cynicism mounted as explosions and heavy gunfire could be heard coming from Kentucky Square, one flash point of the fighting.
Source: nytimes.com
Felipe 
Atlético de Rafaela currently defeat Argentinos Juniors 3-0 at the match for the twelfth round of the Apertura Tournament. Gandín, González and Carniello scored.
Chiara 
