About 100 U.S. Special Operations Forces were reportedly ordered to evacuate Yemen on Saturday, following a sharp uptick in sectarian violence. The American troops had been training Yemeni military forces in counter-terrorism, and gathering intelligence on al Qaeda-linked groups.
The United States closed its embassy in Yemen's capital of Sanaa in February, following the city's takeover by Houthi rebels. On Thursday and Friday of this week, hundreds of alleged al Qaeda members reportedly escaped from two Yemeni prisons; while the U.S. forces were located in relatively remote areas of Yemen, one source told NBC News that "the threat is too high. Why take the risk?"
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