SANAA: Fighters from Yemen’s most powerful tribes fired on government buildings and soldiers retaliated with intense shelling Tuesday as the uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh threatened to become an armed revolt after street protests and Arab mediation failed.
Yemeni security and medical officials say 38 people have been killed in fighting between powerful anti-regime tribes and Saleh’s forces.
A security official said 14 soldiers were killed in the fighting and 20 others were missing. A hospital official said 24 tribesmen were killed.

Both sides traded blame for triggering the latest violence, further deepening the rifts and suggesting Yemen could be stumbling toward a potentially bloody showdown between well-armed tribal militias and pro-Saleh troops.
A statement by opposition groups accused Saleh of “dragging the country to chaos.” The Interior Ministry, in turn, blamed the “bloodshed” on Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, the head of Yemen’s largest tribe, called the Hashid.
Saleh has refused to step down despite three months of nearly nonstop protests calling for an end to his 32-year rule. He also snubbed attempts by Arab neighbors to negotiate his exit.
But the decision by Ahmar’s tribe and others to take up arms sharply alters the balance.

Yemen’s tribes are considered essential allies for any government to survive. Ahmar and others had abandoned Saleh two months ago even though he is, too, a member of the Hashid clan.
But the tribes had until now decided to keep their weapons in check even as government forces fired on street demonstrations in attacks that have claimed more than 150 lives.
Now, however, the battles that began Monday may significantly increase pressure on Saleh’s regime – either by encouraging more clan leaders to join the fight or pushing more military officials to abandon the government.
“The defection of Sheikh al-Ahmar was a very harsh blow because any ruler in Yemen survives only though tribal support,” said Faris al-Saqqaf, a political analyst at the independent Future Research Center in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

“Saleh is slapping al-Ahmar in the face just as al-Ahmar slapped him in the face and he wants revenge.”
Tuesday’s clashes broke out after government forces tried to storm Ahmar’s compound in Sanaa’s Hassaba district, an area that includes government ministries and the headquarters of Saleh’s ruling party.
Hundreds of tribal fighters came to Ahmar’s aid and pushed back government troops to take control of strategic points around the district, setting up roadblocks on streets flooded by water mains blasted by mortar shells.
Militiamen also used chains to seal the doors of the ruling party headquarters and several ministries.
A senior military official in Sanaa told the Associated Press that sending forces to Ahmar’s house was meant to “break the will of the tribes, but so far it’s failed.” Saleh’s forces took up positions inside the Interior Ministry, which came under sustained attacked from tribal forces. A rocket-propelled grenade punched a hole in the building, where smoke rose from the opening.

Government forces then struck back. Mortar barrages targeted Ahmar’s compound and other villas belonging to family members.
Later, what appeared to be several artillery shells slammed into Ahmar’s home, injuring at least three tribal leaders including the chief mediator with the government, said one of the militiamen, Yehia Mansour Abu Isbaa.
He also indicated the casualty toll could be higher. “I saw destruction, body parts … bloodied clothes and lots of smoke,” he told AP.

Dahan al-Qouhet, a tribal leader, said that at least five fighters were killed in the mortar strikes, and two others were killed in other clashes.
That would bring the overall death toll to at least 14 over two days of fighting, according to tribal chiefs and medical officials.“This is not an attack on Ahmar and his family only, but on all the tribes in Yemen,” said Faisal Manaa, a leader of the Bakeel, another powerful tribe. “We will not remain silent. We are warning the regime if it doesn’t withdraw its troops, we will be launching in a comprehensive and fierce war with them.”
The escalating clashes came after Saleh refused to sign a U.S.-backed deal, mediated by Gulf Arab neighbors, that offered immunity from prosecution under a timetable to step down within 30 days and transfer power to his vice president.

Although the tribal fighters seemed to tighten their grip in central Sanaa, government troops are still strong in other parts of the capital. Saleh’s forces are concentrated in the southern part of the capital, where the presidential palace and military camps are located.
Yemen’s Gulf neighbors Tuesday demanded an immediate halt to the bloody clashes. “The fighting in Sanaa during the last two days is a source of concern for the [Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary] who fear that it may spread,” said GCC secretary-general Abdullatif al-Zayani. Zayani, who has been promoting the power transfer plan, which he brokered, urged the rival camps to show restraint.
The country’s opposition vowed Monday to step up street protests, while insisting on efforts to avoid violence.