Americans Evacuate Yemen, Rebels Commandeer Their Cars and Weapons

Istimages/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — All remaining U.S. embassy staff, including the 100 Marines guarding them, have made it safely out of Yemen on a private Omani jet that took them to Oman’s capital of Muscat, the State Department said on Wednesday.

A decision was made to close the embassy until further notice due to violence and civil unrest stemming from the Houthi rebel takeover in Sana’a, officials said.

The evacuation lasted about six hours on Tuesday as various convoys made their way to the airport, but the State Department spokesman acknowledged Wednesday that not everything went as planned.

“Upon our departure, our vehicles and equipment were seized, reportedly, by the Houthis,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a briefing to reporters. “We are looking into this. Clearly, it is unacceptable, and we would reiterate that in order to return to Sana’a, respect for property, respect for our facilities is — is an essential component of that. So, we certainly are requesting they be returned.”

The vehicles were mostly armored SUVs, officials said.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday its Marines were required to hand over their weapons to the “local authorities” before boarding the civilian jet. Defense officials said they made sure to disable them first by removing the firing pins.

Now that American personnel have been removed, the concern has shifted to maintaining a counter-terrorism relationship with the fractured Yemeni government. The former president of Yemen, currently under house arrest, had been a critical partner in attacking al Qaeda operatives in the region. Though the Shia dominated Houthis are not allied with al Qaeda, there is a serious concern in Washington that they could end the partnership.

Yet, Pentagon officials expressed confidence that the missions will continue in the near future.

“We still have special operations forces in Yemen, we continue to conduct counter-terrorism training with Yemeni security forces, and we are still capable inside Yemen of conducting counter-terrorism operations,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the State Department has not said where its embassy staff will be based in the interim and would not disclose who is responsible for guarding the building while the Americans are gone.

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