The British government said it has closed its embassy in Yemen and evacuated all its diplomatic staff amid turmoil there following the takeover of much of the country by Shia rebels.
In a statement on Wednesday, U.K. Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood said all embassy staff in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, left early on Wednesday morning. The statement also called for all British nationals to “leave immediately.”
The U.K. decision comes after the U.S. Embassy there closed and America evacuated its staff.
Yemen has been in crisis for months with Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and taking control. Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. officials said the embassy closure would not affect counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch, which America views as the world’s most dangerous branch of the terror group.
