North, South Yemen Factions Blow Up Feud Into Civil War

Yemen thundered with exploding bombs and artillery shells Thursday after a simmering feud between the north and south of the impoverished nation blew up into civil war.

Fighting blazed near the presidential palace and in other parts of Yemen, while warplanes hit targets in the regional strongholds, Sana in the north and Aden in the south. The southern military command claimed it shot down two northern jets that had attacked Aden.

There was no way to estimate casualties.

Officials on both sides said it was the worst fighting in this nation at the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula since conservative North Yemen and socialist South Yemen united on May 22, 1990.

The nation of 14 million people, the peninsula’s first democratic republic since parliamentary elections a year ago, promised to be an island of pluralism in a region of monarchs and other authoritarian rulers.

But a power struggle between President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a northerner, and Vice President Saleh Obeid Ahmed, a southerner, degenerated into escalating military clashes.

Residents in Sana, including European diplomats, said southern air force jets struck the international airport and the presidential palace at daybreak Thursday.

Authorities closed the airport after the raid, sending stranded passengers back to downtown hotels.

In Washington, the State Department advised Americans to leave the country.

Spokeswoman Christine Shelly said there are 150 U.S. officials and dependents and about 5,000 private U.S. citizens in the country. All were believed safe.

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry announced that it will evacuate all its citizens from Aden, estimated to number about 60. France also offered to evacuate any European Union citizens.

North Vs. South

A power struggle between Yemen’s president, a northerner, and vice president, a southerner, degenerated into escalating military clashes and civil war. U.S. officials estimate about 5,000 Americans are in Yemen, most of them holding dual American-Yemeni citizenship.