After an escalation of violence in Yemen in an attempted coup by Shiite rebels, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra tells
Newsmax TV that he's concerned about the safety of the personnel at the U.S. embassy there.
"I'm very concerned," Hoekstra told J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan on "America's Forum" on Monday.
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"We removed a lot of people from the embassy in Yemen. We have just a core group there," he said.
"It's not a very safe place to be for American nationals or for Americans or Yemeni nationals who work at our embassy," he said. "It's a dangerous place."
Ultimately, if there is a decision to shut down the U.S. embassy in Yemen, it will be up to the ambassador and the State Department, he added.
"The real question is — is the threat in Sanaa against the central government, do they include the United States into their threat calculation? Do they want to attack, not only the central government, but also the Western embassies?" the Michigan Republican said.
"At this point in time, I'm not sure that we know that," he said.
CNN is reporting that a ceasefire agreement was reached Monday between Yemen government officials and the rebels, known as Houthis, members of a Shiite Muslim sect.
Hoekstra said that he's "not sure how much good that will do."
There was an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, which Yemen Information Minister Nadia Al-Sakkaf said was a breach of a previous ceasefire. This came after the rebels
kidnapped the chief of staff of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
"There's never been a strong, stable central government [in Yemen], much like many of these countries in this part of the world — the central government in many cases just controls the capital," Hoekstra said. "In this case, it would control Sanaa."
"There are activities going on that are threatening whatever central government there is in Yemen," he said. "There could be a coup attempt here."
"The important thing to the U.S. and our interest is the continuing instability in Yemen that provides a safe haven for al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula to plan, prepare and train attacks for Europe, other parts of the Middle East, and yes, the United States of America," he said.
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