Information on military operations in southern Yemen has become increasingly limited and reliant on Yemeni official sources. The Yemeni military reports that it has broken the siege of al Qaeda militants around Zinjibar, but there is not yet independent corroboration of those reports.

Yemeni officials claim that the siege of the 25th mechanized brigade in Zinjibar has been broken. Militants have entered Abyan from Shabwah, however, to reinforce positions. Yemen’s deputy information minister, Abdul Janadi, reported the U.S. gave the Yemeni military logistical support in Abyan. Military sources reported that militants might be fleeing to Yafie district in neighboring Lahij governorate.

Yemenis protested the regime across 17 governorates. Gunmen attempted to assassinate Mohammed al Yadoumi, the head of the Islam (Reform) party in Sana’a. Yemen’s opposition bloc, the Joint Meeting Parties, said the attack tried to “embroil the country in a civil war.”

A resolution to the political crisis in the capital will not end the fragmentation of the Yemeni state, which remains at risk of a broader armed conflict. The current situation has increased al Qaeda's operating space in Yemen.