The U.S. State Department was forced to suspend operations at its embassy in Libya because of “freewheeling militia violence” there, Secretary of State John Kerry said today.
Kerry, who spoke to reporters before a meeting with the Turkish and Qatari foreign ministers about Gaza, made the comments after the State Department announced it evacuated its staff in Tripoli.
He blamed the “freewheeling militia violence,” caused by jihadist groups which have only grown in power since the ouster of former president Muammar Gaddafi, for creating an environment in which the diplomatic activities at the Libya embassy had to be suspended.
“A lot of the violence is around our embassy but not on the embassy, but nevertheless it presents a very real risk to our personnel,” Kerry said.
Relocation of @USAEmbassyLibya staff was done over land, with our personnel arriving in Tunisia this morning. http://t.co/MOhIXLgEVG #Libya
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 26, 2014
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