The army knows that its correct place is to protect the people

“The army knows that its correct place is to protect the people,” said Fawaz al-Muthlafy, an engineer from the central city of Taiz who has spent weeks at the sit-in protest. “The citizens are now receiving support from across the entire nation, and all our voices have been united.”
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On a stage in front of the main gates of Sana University, an announcer welcomed a series of sheiks who voiced support for the demonstrations.

The country’s formal political opposition, which for the first time on Saturday joined street protests as a group, also welcomed the support of the commanders. “President Ali Abdullah Saleh will now see that change is a must,” said Mohammed Qahtan, the spokesman for the Joint Meetings Parties, Yemen’s coalition of opposition groups.

Benjamin Rhodes, President Obama’s deputy national security adviser, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday that violence against demonstrators was “unacceptable.”

“I think our view is that there’s clearly going to have to be a political solution in Yemen that includes a government that is more responsive to the Yemeni people,” Mr. Rhodes said. “That has been our consistent message to President Saleh.”

Gregory D. Johnsen, a Princeton University expert on Yemen, said the defection of General Ahmar, known popularly as Ali Mohsin, could well prove a lethal blow to Mr. Saleh’s rule. “Many people were waiting for him to make his move,” Mr. Johnsen said. “It’s opened the floodgates.”

General Ahmar, who is widely believed to hold the conservative religious views of the Salafi school, was responsible for helping Yemeni men who had fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan reintegrate into Yemeni society after their return in the 1990s and has since been an important government liaison to militant factions.

American officials said that history is no indication of sympathy or tolerance for Al Qaeda. But they are uncertain about what an increase in General Ahmar’s influence might mean for Yemen and counterterrorism.