More from the “Arab Spring.”

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni tribesmen said they wrested a military compound from elite troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh outside the capital Sanaa on Friday as increased fighting threatened to tip the country into civil war.

Yemeni fighter jets could be heard breaking the sound barrier as they swooped over the capital, the scene of fighting between forces loyal to Saleh and the rival Hashed tribe led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, close to the Islamist opposition party Islah.

Tribes outside the capital said they were also fighting government troops at two other military bases.

…Tribal leader Sheikh Hamid Asim told Reuters his fighters killed the base’s military commander and a separate tribal source said the Yemeni air force dropped bombs to prevent the tribesmen from seizing an arms cache at the site.

Further bombing sorties by the air force could be heard near Sanaa during the course of the day.

If confirmed, the Republican Guard’s loss of a military compound to tribesmen with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades would be an embarrassing setback for Saleh, whose security forces have been drawn into pitched street fighting in the capital this week that has killed nearly 100 people.