Yemen’s capital rocked with violence day after UN resolution

Violent fighting erupted in Yemen, killing at least nine people and wounding 23, just a day after the government sign a resolution with United Nations, CNN reports.

The clashes between Yemen security forces and rival fighters occurred in several districts of the capital Sanaa. Once again the conflict stemmed from government forces faced with a group loyal to military defector Gen. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar and another group loyal to Hashid tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar, CNN reports.

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“There is a terrible destruction and damage of the houses. I have seen big buildings being rocked by shells,” said Walid Qassem, Bloomberg reports. Qassem lives in the city’s north and said he saw five civilians’ bodies in a mosque after were killed in al-Thawara zone after they were hit by shells, Bloomberg reports.

Rocket propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons were used in the al-Hasaba, Soufan and al-Nahda neighborhoods in the north of the city, Reuters reports. According to Yemeni officials, government forces retook the upper house of parliament building in northern Sanaa, which was occupied by opposition troops, Reuters reports.

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This comes just one day after the United Nations Security Council called for Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who’s been in power for 33 years, to step down in order to end the escalating violence, the Associated Press reports. The council adopted the resolution to transfer power to Saleh’s deputy quickly due to the worsening security and deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation, AP reports.

Saleh responded to the UN resolution, saying he will only hand over power into “safe hands,” Reuters reports.

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"The government of the Republic of Yemeni is willing to deal positively with U.N. Security Council resolution 2014, for it conforms with the Yemeni government efforts to put an end to the political crisis on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative," a Yemeni government source said, Reuters reports.