“Given the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the State Department was left with no alternative but to withdraw American diplomats from the country and close our embassy,” Graham said in a statement on Wednesday. “Yemen is but the latest, yet I fear probably not the last, example of President Obama's failing foreign policy.”
The senator fears these latest developments will ultimately benefit al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which might attack the United States.
White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said on Wednesday that US Department of Defense officials will remain in Yemen to continue with counterterrorism operations.
The United States decided to close its embassy in Yemen over deteriorating security situation, according to the US State Department.
Security concerns followed a coup by the Houthi minority group. The Houthis, Yemeni Shiite opposition group, first staged massive protests against injustice on the part of the Yemeni government last August. They took over a number of cities, including Sanaa, prompting the US-backed president to resign and declared that the group’s security arm, Revolutionary Committee, would govern Yemen.
