Is Another “Arab Spring” Domino About to Fall in Yemen?

SANAA, Yemen (The Blaze/AP) — A U.S. diplomatic official says Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has met with the American ambassador in Sanaa to discuss stepping down in the aftermath of a shooting during which Saleh’s troops killed seven protesters in the capital Sanaa and wounded 10.

A cease-fire has apparently been arranged while Saleh makes arrangements to abdicate. Under an earlier proposed deal, Saleh would resign and hand power to his vice president in return for immunity from prosecution.

Here is a video from earlier today of the shooting in Sana‘a that may have been the nail in the coffin of Saleh’s regime:

“The people want to prosecute the butcher,” the protesters chanted, and some held posters saying that after the death of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, it was time for Saleh to “listen to your people.”

The shooting broke out between Saleh’s forces and renegade troops loyal to Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected to the opposition and whose forces protect the protesters.

Mohammed al-Qubati, who runs a field hospital for the protesters, said two protesters were killed and at least 40 were wounded in the shooting. He said dozens had breathing difficulties from tear gas fired by the troops.

Saleh has clung to power despite more than nine months of massive street protests against him, inspired by Arab uprisings. After a June assassination attempt, he went to Saudi Arabia for treatment but abruptly returned to Yemen last month.

There are also worries that the intensified fighting could undermine U.S. and Saudi efforts to fight Yemen’s al-Qaida branch, considered by the U.S. to be the most dangerous of the terror network’s affiliates after it plotted two recent failed attacks on American soil.