WASHINGTON —
An elite Marine rapid response team has arrived in Yemen’s capital in the wake of violent protests at the U.S. Embassy over a film critical of Islam, the Pentagon said Friday, as a nervous Obama administration watched anti-American demonstrations spread across the Middle East and North Africa.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said the decision to dispatch about 50 Marines to Sanaa was partly in response to the violence and partly as a precautionary measure.
The Marines are members of a platoon from a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, a specially trained and configured group that makes short-notice deployments in response to terrorist threats and to reinforce security at U.S. embassies.
A similar team was dispatched to Tripoli, Libya, on Wednesday in response to the deadly consulate attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens and three other Americans.
Little said no other such teams had been sent to Cairo or other Arab capitals, such as Tunis and Khartoum, where protesters have been demonstrating over the video that mocks the Prophet Muhammad.
A senior U.S. official said that since the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, U.S. intelligence services have deployed extra surveillance equipment over Libya’s populated areas. That equipment was added to the surveillance drones that have flown over the region at least since the Libyan revolution last year.
According to U.S. officials, the drones include Predators and Reapers, which are being used for surveillance and are largely unarmed. While drones have been there consistently, officials have increased their coverage and cycles. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Also, Navy destroyers often carry small Scan Eagle drones, although it’s not clear if they are on either the USS McFaul or the USS Jason Dunham, the two destroyers that are currently near the Gulf of Sidra, which lies between Tripoli and Benghazi.
The deployment to Yemen came as that Arab nation’s security forces were firing live rounds and tear gas into the crowd of about 2,000 protesters trying to march to the U.S. embassy.
At the State Department, another senior official said the agency was “working with our personnel and missions overseas and host governments to strengthen security in all locations and to respond effectively where protests have turned violent.”
U.S. diplomats were in particularly close consultations with the governments of Tunisia and Sudan to ensure that American lives and property are protected, the official said, adding that the Obama administration appreciated statements from leaders in the region who have spoken out against violence and called for calm.
Meanwhile, the official said, the State Department has set up a round-the-clock crisis monitoring team to coordinate information and responses to developments on the ground. The official said the department was also working with diplomatic missions abroad to protect Americans and warn them if violence is imminent or expected.
National News
Marines sent to Yemen to boost embassy security
- National News
-
-
American will favor passengers without roller bags
If you’re traveling light, you can board earlier on American Airlines.
-
Senate panel considers labor board nominees
Senate Republicans said Thursday they would not support five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, raising the possibility the troubled agency could be rendered mostly inoperable later this year.
-
No Powerball winner; jackpot soars to $475 million
So you didn’t win Wednesday’s $360 million Powerball jackpot? Make that you and everyone else.
-
INFLUENCE GAME: Tech, labor spar on immigration
To the U.S. technology industry, there’s a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business.
-
Health reforms penalize some Indians
When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded clinic in Northern California’s wine country that covers all her medical needs.
-
Pennsylvania abortion doctor gets third life sentence
A Philadelphia abortion doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby he described as so big it could “walk to the bus.”
-
For Minnesota gay marriage sponsors, it’s personal
When Gov. Mark Dayton adds his signature to the bill legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota later Tuesday, its two main sponsors will stand triumphantly beside him admiring the fruits of their long and often demoralizing struggle for gay rights.
-
Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy
Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
-
Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths
It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America’s green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm’s spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.
-
Govt obtains wide AP phone records in probe
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.
- More National News Headlines
-
American will favor passengers without roller bags
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
