{"id":26475,"date":"2019-08-29T21:58:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T21:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/29\/24th-meu-marines-supported-the-evacuation-and-movement-of-yemen-president-and-special-operations-forces-in-2015\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:11:27","slug":"24th-meu-marines-supported-the-evacuation-and-movement-of-yemen-president-and-special-operations-forces-in-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/08\/29\/24th-meu-marines-supported-the-evacuation-and-movement-of-yemen-president-and-special-operations-forces-in-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"24th MEU Marines supported the evacuation and movement of Yemen\u2019s president, special operations forces in 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the security situation in Yemen<\/a> began to rapidly deteriorate in early 2015, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit kicked into high gear, providing close-air support assets while aiding in the evacuation of U.S. personnel and the movement of Yemen\u2019s president, according to U.S. military documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exploits of the 24th MEU\u2019s support to Yemen<\/a> during the early stages of the country\u2019s civil war were detailed in a command chronology obtained by Marine Corps Times through a government records request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The records reveal an extensive level of involvement by the MEU in the war-torn country \u2014 even as its forces were spread thinly across the Middle East supporting multiple multinational training exercises and anti-ISIS missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the country slipped deeper into chaos, Marines with the MEU were tasked with supporting the evacuation of special operation forces and American government personnel and also the evacuation of Yemen\u2019s President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A listing of \u201csignificant events\u201d in the chronology notes that the MEU supported the \u201cevacuation\u201d of Hadi on March 26, 2015, but provided no other details of what that support entailed or where Hadi was moved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 20, 2015, Aljazeera<\/a> reported that Hadi had fled his presidential palace in Aden after it was attacked by unidentified aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A civil war has split Yemen between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and supporters of Hadi\u2019s government following a failed power handover between Ali Abdullah Saleh and Hadi. Yemen\u2019s capital of Sana\u02bda has been controlled by the Houthis since February 2015. The ongoing conflict has been exploited by ISIS and al-Qaida militants in ungoverned spaces across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the conflict spilled into Sana\u02bda, the U.S. shuttered its embassy in February 2015, prompting Marines floating near Yemen\u2019s coast aboard the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima to aid the departure of American personnel with airborne quick reaction troops and command and control support for joint forces assisting with the withdrawal efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\t