The United States has closed its Tripoli embassy and evacuated everyone
The United States closed its embassy in the early hours of this morning and evacuated its 150 personnel, including 80 US marines, who were driven across the border into Tunisia.
The Guardian reports this afternoon:
The United States shut down its embassy in Libya on Saturday and evacuated its diplomats to neighbouring Tunisia under US military escort amid a significant deterioration in security in Tripoli as fighting intensified between rival militias, the State Department said.
“Due to the ongoing violence resulting from clashes between Libyan militias in the immediate vicinity of the US embassy in Tripoli, we have temporarily relocated all of our personnel out of Libya,” a spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said.
(…)
American personnel at the Tripoli embassy, which had already been operating with limited staffing, left the capital around dawn and travelled by road to neighbouring Tunisia, according to Harf. As the evacuation was under way, residents of the city reported in real time on social media that US military aircraft flew overhead while US soldiers escorted a convoy of vehicles out of town. The State Department would not confirm the evacuation until all staffers were safely in Tunisia.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/26/us-closes-embassy-libya-militia-battles-tripoli
And Malta’s foreign minister says there isn’t anything much to worry about.
Those Americans are really fussy.
Yes, there was no need to evacuate Maltese workers. Now he wants us to keep our mouths shut on the excuse of prejudicing the life of the Maltese worker who was abducted.
What’s Muscat going to do to shut the media’s mouths? Burn down the internet?
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/25/maltese-man-is-kidnapped-by-libyan-rebels-on-tripoli-outskirts/
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Jul-26/265193-fresh-militia-clashes-at-libya-airport.ashx
Don’t worry, chaps – the Maltese embassy will never close. Too much “business” involved issuing Schengen visas. You can always count on the Foreign Ministry to remain vigilant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_3-23zAWM
Excellent!
http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2014-07-26/news/were-working-on-martin-galeas-abduction-say-government-sources-5976555524/