SANAA: The US Embassy in Yemen reopened its doors Tuesday after a two-day closure, saying successful attacks on Al-Qaeda targets by Yemeni forces a day earlier had addressed concerns about a specific militant threat.
The Yemeni Interior Ministry, however, issued its own statement saying the security situation in the capital had always been under control, suggesting that the embassy closures had not been necessary to begin with.
The embassy said it shut down for two days because of information of an imminent Al-Qaeda attack, but government attacks on Monday had neutralized the threat. “Successful counter-terrorism operations conducted by government of Yemen security forces Jan. 4 north of the capital have addressed a specific area of concern, and have contributed to the embassy’s decision to resume operations,” the statement said.
The British embassy, meanwhile, also said it had reopened, though consular and visa services remain suspended.
Other Western embassies maintained heightened security profiles Tuesday, including the French and Czech embassies, which were operational but closed to the public, and the Spanish and German embassies, which were restricting the number of visitors. In a sign of possible dissatisfaction over the embassy closures, Yemen’s Interior Ministry issued a statement saying the situation was under control. “There is nothing to fear from any threats of terror attack,” the ministry said. “Security is good in the capital and the provinces, and there is no fear for the lives of any foreigner or foreign embassy.” Yemen has sent thousands of security forces to take part in a campaign against Al-Qaeda in three provinces, and authorities have detained five suspected fighters from the group, a security source said on Tuesday. “The campaign is continuing in the capital and in the provinces of Shabwa and Maarib,” the source said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. The manhunt is also going on in the southern province of Abyan.
Meanwhile, US senator John McCain warned Tuesday Al-Qaeda is increasingly using Yemen as a base to launch attacks around the world, and called on Washington to help the Arab country expel the terror network. McCain and fellow US senator Joseph Lieberman, who both visited Yemen in August, told reporters on a one-day trip to Baghdad that the United States needed to help Yemen build up its economy. “We cannot allow Yemen to be a base for Al-Qaeda to mount attacks on other countries in the region as well as the United States,” said McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008.
Lieberman said an American who was working in Yemen had warned him during the August visit that “Iraq was yesterday’s war, Afghanistan is today’s war and if do not act preemptively now, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.”
