WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States is evacuating its entire military personnel from a key airbase in Yemen following an upsurge in violence in the conflict-torn country, the US State Department has announced.
"Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the U.S. Government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen," US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a Saturday statement.
The State Department stressed that there is "no military solution to Yemen's current crisis" and called for an "immediate" cessation of armed hostilities in the country.
Earlier on Saturday, the UN Security Council announced a decision to hold an emergency meeting on Yemen on Sunday afternoon, a move which came one day after Islamic State (ISIL) militants carried out a series of attacks in Yemen's capital Sanaa and the northern city of Saada.
On Friday, suicide bombers took the lives of at least 150 people in two Sanaa mosques. In Saada, over 30 people were killed in attacks.
On February 11, the United States suspended the work of the US Embassy in Sanaa and issued a travel warning for its citizens, citing ongoing terrorist activities and civil unrest in Yemen.
Later that same month, Hadi escaped house arrest, fled to the southern port city of Aden and withdrew his resignation.
On Thursday, Houthis launched airstrikes on the presidential palace in Aden. The UN Security Council condemned the attacks in its Friday statement, stressing that Hadi is the sole legitimate authority in Yemen and urging all sides in the Yemeni conflict to refrain from the use of military force.
The US State Department also stressed in its Saturday statement that President Hadi is the legitimate authority in Yemen and called on Houthi rebels to stop violent incitement which threatens Hadi, Yemeni government officials and innocent civilians in the country.
