{"id":34815,"date":"2014-07-27T07:13:45","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T07:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=34815"},"modified":"2014-07-27T07:13:45","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T07:13:45","slug":"us-evacuates-libya-embassy-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/07\/us-evacuates-libya-embassy-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"US evacuates Libya embassy staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
The US says it has temporarily evacuated its staff from the Libyan capital Tripoli over security concerns.<\/p>\n
Staff, including marine guards providing security to the embassy, have been transferred to Tunisia “due to the ongoing violence resulting from clashes between Libyan militias,” it adds.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a “real risk” to staff.<\/p>\n
It comes amid fierce clashes between rival militias in the capital, with intense fighting at Tripoli airport.<\/p>\n
Libya has been gripped by instability since the 2011 uprising, with swathes of the country controlled by militias.<\/p>\n
With no army, Libya’s central government has increasingly lost control over the country to rogue and powerful militias in the last two years, says the BBC’s Rana Jawad in Tripoli.<\/p>\n
Military assistance<\/p>\n
The US embassy in Tripoli was already operating on limited staffing. All remaining personnel were driven overland to Tunisia in the early hours of Saturday.<\/p>\n
The US military said it had “assisted in the relocation” of embassy staff, using F-16 and MV-22 Osprey aircraft.<\/p>\n
It said the five-hour operation was “conducted without incident”.<\/p>\n
State department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the withdrawal “underscored the Obama administration’s concern about the heightened risk to American diplomats abroad”.<\/p>\n
She said that fighting between rival armed groups was taking place “in very close proximity” to the US embassy in the capital.<\/p>\n