AKIPRESS.COM - The United States and Britain abruptly closed their embassies in Yemen on Wednesday amid deteriorating security conditions after the takeover of the country by Shiite rebels, according to the media reports.

"The Department of State has decided to suspend our embassy operations and our embassy staff have been temporarily relocated out of Sana'a," Jen Psaki, a spokesperson in Washington, said late Tuesday.

In a separate travel warning, the State Dept. said it currently had no plans for a government-sponsored evacuation of American citizens but urged extreme caution amid an ongoing risk of kidnapping.

Tobias Ellwood, a British cabinet-level secretary for the Middle East, urged British citizens in Yemen to immediately leave. "Regrettably we now judge that our embassy staff and premises are at increased risk," Ellwood said.

The U.S. embassy closure will not affect counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaeda's Yemen branch, which the U.S. views as the world's most dangerous branch of the terror group.

Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country and it has been in crisis for months as fighters led by Iran-linked Abdel-Malek al-Houthi last week dissolved parliament and claimed formal control of the government.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned in January and has since been under house arrest, and Houthi has repeatedly warned against foreign intervention.