Munir al Mawri, a Yemeni analyst and a member of the Yemeni Opposition Council, speaking to Al Jazeera says they fear mass war crimes might be committed in the next few hours as capital Sana'a is in completely in darkness and all telecommunication and internet services have been shut down.

"The regime will try to take advantage of the situation as the whole world remains distracted by issues in Libya and Syria."

Al Mawri says the US is making a big mistake by taking a neutral stance and dealing with the crackdown as if it were a political crisis that can be solved by the opposition and the government.