Not quite the same (worse, actually) but an opportunity to make it all about me & relate a vicarious ancestral experience: This reporter's father was in Yemen in 1962, when that revolution broke out, & was held under house arrest by the Marxist revolters for a wk. or so. I type "worse" because he wasn't there touristing, running guns or whatnot but as an employee of an engineering firm contracted by U.S.A.I.D. to advise the Yemenis on getting more water from their wadis for irrigation.Yemen War: No Evacuation Plans For Stranded Americans By US Government
The exodus of foreign diplomats and citizens from war-torn Yemen has surged in recent days amid Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthi militias, who have taken over much of the country. China, India, Pakistan and Somalia have sent ships and planes to evacuate their citizens trapped in Yemen. The United States moved its embassy staff out of Yemen after suspending embassy operations in the capital Sanaa last month, and remaining military personnel were airlifted out last week. But the U.S. government has yet to announce any evacuation plans for Americans in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s campaign -- which was coordinated with help from the United States -- has Yemen landlocked, with the airports and major seaports shut down. Yemeni-Americans said they received no warning of the Saudi attack, and now they are desperate for alternate escape routes.
Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a San Francisco native who is currently in Sanaa, said he never received a response from the State Department. “The U.S. coordinated with Saudi on logistics, so they must have been aware of what was coming,” he told Al Jazeera. “And yet we received no warning. If India and Somalia can find a way to evacuate their nationals, why can’t the U.S.?”
The Shiite Houthi rebel group last week issued a call to report individuals suspected of being American or Saudi agents. Alkhanshali told Al Jazeera he’s taken up arms to protect himself and his family at their home in Sanaa, where they’ve learned to keep the lights off and steer clear of windows. “People keep family photos near their bed,” he said. “I’ve come to sleep next to several firearms.”
To be fair the Marxists (as the State Dep't. whatever described them to my mother on the 'phone) let him go unharmed, & grabbed him & the others long before the embassy/consular corps could have done anything.
Most of the above typed a few days ago (Last month, maybe?); this reminded me:
Third plane evacuated from Yemen 160 citizens from #Russia #Armenia #Belarus #Kazakhstan #Moldova #Syria #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/yo8wQIdOgQ
— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) April 4, 2015
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