The security detachment of Marines that evacuated with the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a late Tuesday did not turn over any weapons to Houthi rebels as they departed, contrary to reports, the service emphasized in a late statement Wednesday.
“To be clear: No Marine handed a weapon to a Houthi, or had one taken from him,” the Marine Corps said in a statement.
The Marines destroyed their larger crew-served weapons — heavy machine guns often on tripods that require a crew of two or more people to operate them — prior to getting to the airport, the Marines said.
Once evacuating personnel got to the airport, because they were evacuated on a commercial flight, the Marines destroyed their personal weapons before boarding, the Service said.
The U.S. Embassy was evacuated late Tuesday after months of escalating violence in Yemen where Shiite-backed rebels have now taken over the country. Earlier news reports suggested the Marines had to surrender their weapons to the Houthis prior to departure.
The statement:
“The Marine Security Force left the American embassy in Yemen for the movement to the airfield as part of the “ordered departure” with only personal weapons. All crew served weapons were destroyed at the embassy prior to movement. None of them were ‘handed over’ in any way to anyone. The destruction of weapons at the embassy and the airport was carried out in accordance with an approved destruction plan.
“Upon arrival at the airfield, all personal weapons were rendered inoperable in accordance with advance planning. Specifically, each bolt was removed from its weapons body and rendered inoperable by smashing with sledgehammers. The weapons bodies, minus the bolts, were then separately smashed with sledgehammers. All of these destroyed components were left at the airport — and components were scattered; no usable weapon was taken from any Marine at Sana’a airport.”
