Tribal sources announced that a 70 year-old woman died on Saturday from the shelling and that several others had been hurt. They also claimed that a number of government soldiers had been either killed or severely injured in the fight.
In Arhab which is situated a few kilometers north of Sana'a, opponents to the regime gathered in a demonstration, chorusing slogans demanding the immediate departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Yemen.
The villagers continued on in spite of the mortar shells being launched at them by the Republican Guards, unconcerned as they say they had lost so much that even their life was worth losing if it meant the end of the regime. "For our sons, for our daughters, we will sacrifice our blood, our soul…everything….but we need to make him [Saleh] leave," said an old man whose house had been destroyed in the fighting some months ago.
Armed tribesmen fought today the Republican guards in Arhab, forcing them back from their positions, as they refused to abandon the fight, even if the army seemed better equipped and greater in number.
"We will defend our homes to the last man", said a buoyant tribesman brandishing his gun in an act of defiance.