US closing embassy in Yemen completely

The United States is completely closing its embassy in Yemen, where the Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement have taken control of the capital, according to American officials in Washington and embassy employees.

The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said on Tuesday that Washington might request the Turkish or Algerian embassies in Sana’a to represent American interests in the country.

"The ambassador and the rest of the staff will leave by Wednesday evening," one employee of the embassy in Sana’a told the Reuters news agency.

Employees said officials at the embassy had been destroying documents and staff had been leaving Sana’a over the past days.

The US officials said American diplomats were being evacuated from Yemen and the embassy will suspend operations until conditions improve in the country, which is grappling with a severe political crisis between the central government and Ansarullah fighters.

In September 2014, Ansarullah fighters took control of Sana’a, following a four-day battle with army forces loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the half-brother of the country’s former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Ansarullah revolutionaries say the Yemeni government has been incapable of properly running the affairs of the country and providing security.

Last month, the Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the cabinet of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned over pressure from the Ansarullah revolutionaries.

Yemen has been the scene of tensions after the Ansarullah fighters arrested Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, Hadi’s chief of staff, at a checkpoint in the western district of Hada on January 17.

Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years, stepped down in February 2012 under a US-backed power transfer deal in return for immunity, after a year of mass street demonstrations demanding his ouster. The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular revolution that forced Saleh to step down

AHT/GJH

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