Tanks enter Yemen capital as army chief defects

Tanks and armoured vehicles have deployed in the Yemeni capital after a top army commander and close aide to the country’s embattled leader announced he was defecting to the opposition.

Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar is the commander of the army’s 1st Armoured Division, units of which deployed in a major square in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, today.

Protesters have been camping out there as they call for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

News of Maj Gen al-Ahmar’s defection to the protesters’ cause came one day after crowds flooded cities and towns across Yemen to mourn dozens of protesters killed on Friday when President Saleh’s security forces opened fire from rooftops on a demonstration in Sanaa.