“There are not [any plans],” Harf said on Friday, when asked if the United States has any plans to take a more proactive role in evacuating the US citizens who are still on the ground in Yemen.
Harf also noted that Washington is not asking other countries for assistance to evacuate US citizens.
“I have not heard that we are considering proactive y asking other countries for help,” she said.
The State Department spokesperson stressed the United States has been warning US citizens for a decade not travel to Yemen.
“If they do, the United States can provide only limited assistance especially now given that the embassy is closed,” she added.
Harf explained that given the situation in Yemen now is “dangerous and unpredictable,” doing something like sending in military assets even for an evacuation could put US citizens lives at greater risk.
Washington is aware of the reports that a US citizen was killed in Yemen on March 31, she added, and is working to verify the information.
On Friday night, Russia evacuated 311 people on two passenger jets from Yemen’s capital Sanaa to Moscow. The evacuated included 152 Russians as well as citizens of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, among other countries.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Friday that a Chinese warship evacuated 225 foreign nationals from the Yemeni port city of Aden on Thursday, including 176 citizens from Pakistan, 29 from Ethiopia and others from Singapore, Italy, Germany, Poland and Ireland.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman announced on Friday that India began evacuating its citizens from Sanaa by air.
Yemen is currently the scene of armed clashes as Houthi forces continue to overrun areas controlled by troops loyal to displaced President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who fled the country amid the escalating violence.
On March 26, a Saudi Arabian-led coalition began carrying out airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen in response to a request by Hadi.
