Renewed fighting in Sana’a indicates that Yemen is at risk for broader armed conflict. Violence has escalated in the south in Abyan, where tribesmen and military forces have launched an offensive against al Qaeda-linked militants.

Anti-government tribesmen and Republican Guard forces clashed in northern Sana’a. Anti-government tribesmen attacked an army checkpoint, wounding five soldiers, which prompted a response from Yemeni security forces. Government shelling killed five people and injured six more in the village of Beit Zuhra, in Arhab, which is north of the capital. At least two people were killed in fighting in Nihm district, north of the capital.

Fighting broke out in Sana’a. Security forces fired on demonstrators marching out of a sit-in area, killing one person and injuring eight others. Members of the opposition claim that fighting between security forces and demonstrators killed six people.

The offensive against al Qaeda-linked militants continues in Abyan. Tribesmen took control of some government buildings in Shaqra, a coastal city east of Zinjibar in Abyan. The police chief in Wadyia, to the northeast of Zinjibar, reported that al Qaeda-linked militants had been forced out of the town. Yemeni government officials reported that an al Qaeda leader was killed in Zinjibar. Ansar al Sharia militants issued a statement warning the tribes of the “risks of a plot pushing them to face” its militants.

A resolution to the political crisis in the capital will not end the fragmentation of the Yemeni state, which remains at risk of a broader armed conflict. The current situation has increased al Qaeda's operating space in Yemen.