Reuters TV
Protesters scale a fence at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
Protesters angry over an obscure film critical of Islam?s Prophet Muhammad stormed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday, as unrest that led to the deaths of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya spread to other countries in the region.
Witnesses said Yemeni security forces opened fire on demonstrators as they tried to scale the walls of the American compound, according to The Associated Press and Reuters.
Hakim Almashmari, the editor of the Yemen Post, told NBC News that a security blockade set up by local police around the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa was breached but the protesters had not got inside the embassy walls.
In Cairo, police fired tear gas Thursday to disperse protesters outside the U.S. embassy. On Tuesday demonstrators also climbed the embassy walls and tore down the American flag.
The unrest comes after a separate attack Tuesday on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other State Department officers.
Reuters TV
Protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday.
The protesters? anger was triggered by the amateurish anti-Islam film, a trailer for which appeared on YouTube, although U.S. authorities said Wednesday that they could not rule out the possibility that al-Qaida-inspired Islamist militants had pre-planned the deadly attack in Libya?s second city?to coincide with Sept. 11.
The unrest has spread to several countries.
Late Wednesday, police fired teargas at angry demonstrators outside the U.S. embassy in Tunisia and several hundred people gathered in front of the U.S. embassy in Sudan.
In Morocco, a few dozen protesters burned American flags and chanted slogans near the U.S. consulate in Casablanca.
On Wednesday night, President Obama spoke to the presidents of Egypt and Libya and urged them to continue working with the United States to ensure the safety of diplomatic personnel, the White House said.
A deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was staged by militants who set the building on fire. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi promised Egypt "would honor its obligation to ensure the safety of American personnel," the White House said.
Obama told Morsi that while "he rejects efforts to denigrate Islam ... there is never any justification for violence against innocents."
Challenge for U.S.
The developments in the Arab world, and especially in Egypt, are shaping up to be a major political and foreign policy challenge for Obama in this election year.
Timeline: Political fallout from the attack on diplomats in Libya
Egypt has been a cornerstone of American policy in the Middle East ever since it became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
But after Egypt became the first country in the region whose popular protests helped oust its longtime pro-U.S. dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011, its role in American regional policy was thrown into question.
Rachel Maddow shares a piece of the interviews by Telemundo anchor and host of Noticiero Telemundo, Jos? D?az-Balart, talking with President Barack Obama about the U.S. response to the attacks on American missions in Egypt and Libya Tuesday.
While still one of the top recipients of American foreign aid, the recent election of Morsi of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood has led to a shift in U.S.-Egyptian relations.
The ascension of Morsi was the result of the Arab Spring, in which strongmen in countries such as Libya and Tunisia as well as Egypt were ousted by a combination of popular protests and military action. But the results are unclear.
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The U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed after protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad stormed the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
In an interview with Telemundo on Wednesday, Obama said that while he does not believe Egypt is an ally of the United States, he also does not consider the country an enemy.
"I think that we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident,? Obama said.
During a separate call on Wednesday, Obama thanked Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf for his condolences over the deaths of the four Americans in Benghazi.
Attack on the Libya consulate, as it happened
The White House said the two leaders agreed to "work together to do whatever is necessary to identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them to justice."
'Non-emergency' personnel ordered out of Libya
Meanwhile, the State Department ordered all "non-emergency" U.S. personnel out of Libya, but officials told NBC News that as of now there was no plan for a total U.S. evacuation.
U.S. officials said the Navy is positioning two guided-missile destroyers off the Libyan coast to provide "additional military options" if needed.
The USS LaBoon had already arrived off the coast of Libya, officials told NBC News. The USS McFaul was expected to arrive Thursday. Both are based at Norfolk, Va., and are listed as having crews of 338.
In addition, the Defense and State departments were considering sending additional Marines to other potential trouble spots, including Cairo and Kabul, which have both seen sectarian flare-ups against the United States.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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