The US is evacuating its embassy staff from Libya.

The evacuation of US embassy staff was carried out following bloody clashes between rebel factions in the capital, Tripoli.

A source close to the matter said that eight American diplomats and more than 200 security personnel in Libya were evacuated from the US Embassy.

According to Reuters, security in Tripoli is at a very low level after more than two weeks of fierce fighting between rebel groups. Both groups have fired rockets and artillery shells at each other in the southern Tripoli area near the US Embassy.

Black smoke rises over the city of Tripoli due to ongoing fighting (Photo: Reuters)

Therefore, on July 26, the US evacuated all embassy staff across the Libyan border to Türkiye. The evacuation convoy was closely escorted by US military forces stationed in Libya.

Three F-16 fighter jets and an Osprey carrying several US Marines flew directly over the convoy to provide support. After a five-hour drive from Tripoli to Tunisia, the convoy encountered no attacks.

"Security must be the top priority. Unfortunately, we had to evacuate because the location of the U.S. Embassy is too close to where intense fighting is taking place between factions in Libya," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marine Harf stated.

Ms. Harf also stated that U.S. Embassy staff would return to Tripoli as soon as the situation became safer. Until then, all U.S. Embassy operations in Libya would be conducted in other countries in the region and in Washington.

Security in Libya is an extremely sensitive issue for the United States following the terrorist attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomatic officials.

The attack also severely damaged President Obama's political reputation, with Republican lawmakers arguing that his administration failed to ensure security and respond quickly to the attack, while deliberately trying to cover up its shortcomings.

Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, emphasized on July 26 that the administration needs to “be more involved in ground combat against rebel forces in Libya” to control the violence there.

Speaking to reporters in Paris ahead of talks on the Middle East, US Secretary of State John Kerry described the situation in Libya as a “vicious spiral of violence that has spiraled out of control” and considered it a real threat to US embassy personnel.

Also on July 26, the British Foreign Office urged its citizens to leave Libya immediately due to the "increasingly intense fighting and growing instability there."

According to VOV