The departure of Yemen’s battle-wounded president for treatment in Saudi Arabia set off wild street celebrations in the capital, where crowds danced, sang and slaughtered cows in hopes that this spelled a victorious end to a more than three-month campaign to push their leader from power.

Yemen’s embattled president accepted an offer from the Saudi monarch to seek treatment in his kingdom after being wounded in a rocket attack, raising the possibility today that he could leave the country after nearly four months of mass protests seeking to end his 33-year rule.