The United States, Great Britain, and Spain have closed their embassies in Yemen, pointing to threats from Al Qaeda amid signs that the perception of Yemen has now shifted so the country is being clearly perceived as a growing threat as an Al Qaeda base. Spain’s embassy staff will remain working, although its embassy will be closed to the public Monday and Tuesday.
The Christian Science Monitor reports:
The US and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen Sunday, citing threats from Al Qaeda. Coming one day after President Obama publicly linked the Al Qaeda branch in Yemen to the failed airline bomb plot on Christmas Day, the move signals that the US is now taking the growing Al Qaeda threat in Yemen more seriously.
BBC News reports that it is unclear how long both embassies will remain closed. The US embassy released a statement saying that it would be closed Sunday, but did not specify when the mission would reopen. Agence France-Presse also reports that the US embassy sent a message to US citizens in Yemen Thursday reminding them of the terrorist threat.
The US embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, has been attacked before: In 2008, a car bomb attack killed 19 people, including one American. And in 2000, the attack on the USS Cole killed 17 American sailors, as The Christian Science Monitor reported recently in a review of Al Qaeda-linked attacks that have involved Yemen.
The impoverished country has been in the spotlight recently as its Al Qaeda affiliate, called Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, appears to be establishing a foothold there from which to launch global attacks. At the same time, Yemen’s government is also fighting rebels in the north and a separatist movement in the south….
And Spain? Times Online:
Spain has also decided to close its embassy in Sanaa on Monday and Tuesday, the newspaper El Mundo said, quoting embassy sources….
The website Typically Spanish reports that staff will still be working at the Spanish embassy:
It remains operational, despite both the US and the UK deciding to close their embassies in Sanaa
Spain on Sunday decided to restrict access to its embassy in Yemen in response to threats from Al Qaeda, and it’s understood from El Mundo newspaper that the building is to be closed to the public over Monday and Tuesday. It came after both the US and UK Embassies decided to close earlier in the day. The US Embassy in Sanaa was the first to make the move, announcing on its website, that their offices were closed, ‘in response to ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen’.
Times Online offers this history of how the U.S. Embassy there has been a target over the years:
March 2003 Two people shot dead and dozens wounded as police clash with demonstrators trying to storm the US Embassy.
January 2008 Gunmen in a car exchange fire with police at a checkpoint near the Embassy, hours after it receives threats of a possible attack by al-Qaeda. Nobody injured.
March 2008 Three mortars miss the Embassy and crash into a high school for girls nearby, killing a security guard.
April 2008 Embassy personnel put on a one-week lockdown, barred from leaving their homes or the Embassy after al-Qaeda suicide bombings target South Korean visitors.
September 2008 Nineteen people, including an 18-year-old American woman and six militants, die when US Embassy is attacked by gunmen and two vehicles packed with explosives. None of those killed or wounded is a US diplomat or embassy employee. Al-Qaeda in Yemen claims responsibility.
July 2009 Security upgraded in Sanaa after intelligence reports warn of attacks planned against the Embassy.
Here’s an AP video via You Tube that summarizes this most recent development:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.