Thousands of protester stood ground in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, surrounded by military units that have defected to their side. Renewed protests continued to occur around the country as well, with skepticism that Saleh will back out of his promise to step down as he has done before.
Currently, seven opposition parties and the incumbent regime have agreed to a deal brokered by the GCC- which is comprised of regional powers and has tried to minimize conflict in Yemen. The agreed upon accords call on Saleh to step down in 30 days and hand over power to his vice-president, in return for immunity to prosecution. Some complications have arisen as protesters have denied that the organized opposition parties truly represent their interests, and fears that Saleh will back out as he has in the past on initiatives for government reform. This points to another problem- organizing a stable, unified government in a post-Saleh environment where opposition parties seems to be at odds with the masses that demand reform.
What is clear, however, is that some serious change will have to occur. International pressure can always be shoved off short of foreign intervention, but military units have defected which points to serious weaknesses in Saleh’s security infrastructure. It looks like he will follow the path of Mubarak after the army started to join protesters, and end up removed from power in the coming days. Otherwise, further conflict will occur as the loyalist security forces that killed hundreds of protesters in the last few months would battle the military units that have defected. For now though, their seems to be some disunity in the opposition but the intent and possibility for removing Saleh is realistic and probable.