US, UK embassies suspend operations in Yemen

The American and British embassies in Yemen suspended operations and moved staffers out, and urged their citizens to leave the politically-unstable nation as well.

The troubled Middle Eastern national has been without clear leadership and potentially on the brink of armed conflict since Houthi rebels seized control of key government facilities, dissolved parliament, and placed the President under house arrest. President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi later resigned in protest.

"The level of instability and ongoing threats in Yemen remain extremely concerning," said a State Department travel warning issued Wednesday.

The message from the British Foreign Office was similar. The security situation continues to deteriorate, it said, and "we now judge that our Embassy staff and premises are at increased risk."

It too asked British nationals to leave immediately.

It wasn't immediately clear how the embassy closures will affect the work of United States and its allies work in combating Isliamist groups in the country. The U.S. Embassy had been operating on a skeleton staff since late January