U.S. withdraws all personnel from Yemen

The United States on Sunday announced the evacuation of its remaining personnel from Yemen, as ongoing violence and chaos have raised the specter of civil war in the Arab country.

"Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the U.S. government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen," State Department spokesman Jeffrey Rathke said in a statement.

The agency announced last month the closure of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa and the evacuation of some staff, with the remaining personnel being relocated as well, as Yemen was being taken over by the Houthi rebels.

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Yemen's pro-West president, fled to the southern port city of Aden in February after being placed under house arrest by the rebels.

A combination of power-grabbing battles and terrorism-related suicide bombings in recent days have brought the country further to the brink of a civil and sectarian war, as observers have warned.

U.S. troops were evacuated from the Al Anad air base in southern Yemen on Saturday, after the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula seized the city of al-Houta nearby.

"There is no military solution to Yemen's current crisis," Rathke said, calling for an "immediate cessation of all unilateral and offensive military actions." Endite