On Sunday, Saleh told protesters that he would offer “no more concessions,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.  Negotiations with the opposition movement to begin a transition of power have stopped, according to the aide of a key military leader, and no plans to resume such talks exist.

The incumbent president, it seems, it digging in his heels as his power and authority slowly erode.

“Yemen is a time bomb,” Saleh admitted in an interview with Arabic-language station Al Arabiya.  “Everyone will side with his tribe, and we will then end up with a destructive civil war.”

The increasingly violent repression in the country is drawing international attention, with reports that British Defense Secretary Liam Fox expressing concern “not just because of the imminent collapse of the regime there, but because we know that al Qaeda have been particularly active in Yemen.”

Yemen has been a key ally in the United States’ counterinsurgency efforts abroad, especially crucial given that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula uses Yemen as a training ground.