American ambassador to Libya now based in Malta

The United States will temporarily base its US ambassador to Libya in Malta, after it evacuated its embassy in Tripoli in land-based and air operation transporting staff to Tunisia.

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told CNN’s Candy Crawley that ambassador Deborah Jones, would be based in Malta.

“We have an envoy who is dedicated to brokering those types of agreements among the different Libyan factions. And in fact President Obama will welcome a Libyan delegation to the summit of African leaders in the coming week. We are going to keep working on it, Candy, because we do believe that there is a huge opportunity in Libya if we can bring the different factions together,” Rhodes said.

.@NSCPress @rhodes44 on Libya: we're going to keep our US ambassador in Malta.

— State of the Union (@CNNsotu) July 27, 2014

Some 150 Americans were evacuated from the US embassy as violence in the area of the embassy intensified. They left in a convoy of cars to Tunisia.

“We are currently exploring options for a permanent return to Tripoli as soon as the security situation on the ground improves,” the State Department said at the time.

The United States embassy in strife-torn Libya was evacuated early Saturday, under cover of American warplanes and spy aircraft, according to the State Department and Pentagon.

Personnel from the embassy were evacuated as security deteriorated in the capital of Tripoli. Embassy personnel were taken temporary offices in neighbouring Tunisia with security provided by U.S. forces.

The evacuation took place with surveillance planes providing watch, and warplanes patrolling to provide close-air support in the event of an attack.