US Embassy Vehicle Fired At in Yemen Monday, UN Security Council Expresses ‘Grave Concern’
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iStock/Thinkstock(SANA’A, Yemen) — A U.S. embassy vehicle in the capital of Yemen was shot at on Monday, officials told ABC News.
Despite the shooting, the security posture at the embassy has not changed and no decision has been made to evacuate. The embassy had previously been on “ordered departure status,” meaning that only a limited number of Americans are working there.
The official said that the vehicles was going through a Houthi rebel checkpoint when it was shot out. Embassy personnel were in the vehicle, but were not injured.
A senior U.S. official said that the Yemeni president was surrounded at his residence by Houthi rebels.
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday expressed “grave concern about the worsening political and security crisis in Yemen.” According to a statement approved by the UNSC, “President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi is the legitimate authority based on election results and the terms of the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and Implementation Mechanism.” Further, all parties and political actors in Yemen were urged to “stand with President Hadi,” as well as the Yemeni prime minister and cabinet.
The UNSC further condemned the violence that has occurred in Yemen in recent days — in particular noting an attack on the Presidential Palace on Monday — and called on all parties to “commit to the established processes of dialogue and consultation.”
With the worsening security situation in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a, the U.S. military has moved two Navy amphibious ships into the Red Sea to assist with any potential evacuation of U.S. embassy personnel should the State Department order its personnel to leave the country, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
The two amphibious ships, the USS Iwo Jima and the USS Fort McHenry, moved on Monday night from the Gulf of Aden to the southern Red Sea, placing them closer to Sana’a should they be needed, the defense official said.
Both ships have complements of Marines and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft aboard that could be useful if the U.S. embassy there has to be evacuated on short notice.
The Marines and Ospreys are from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which is on a previously scheduled deployment to the Middle East. The USS San Diego, a third ship in the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, is currently located in the northern Red Sea, the official said.
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