By Jacki Thrapp
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urged all American citizens to leave Iraq immediately on March 14.
“U.S. citizens should leave Iraq now,” according to a security alert posted by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Saturday.
The alert warned that Iran-aligned terrorists were encouraging and conducting attacks on U.S. citizens and people associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR).
“Iran-aligned terrorist militias have repeatedly attacked the International Zone in central Baghdad,” the alert stated. “The International Zone remains closed, with limited exceptions. There have also been repeated attacks in the area around the Erbil International Airport and the Consulate General.”
U.S. officials urged citizens to stay away from the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate general in Erbil due to threats of ongoing risk of missiles, drones, and rockets in Iraqi airspace.
Any U.S. citizen looking to leave Iraq will be provided departure options from the U.S. government, which has assisted nearly 34,000 Americans in the region since the conflict escalated with Iran on Feb 28.
But an exit from Iraq may be tricky.
Commercial flights are not flying out of the country because the airspace is closed.
Anybody looking to leave Iraq is encouraged to take ground transportation to other countries.
The region has been filled with uncertainty ever since the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28, which killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of other senior officials.
Iraq has been listed under a Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory by the State Department since March 2 due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and the U.S. government’s limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq.
Saturday’s warning was issued just days after six crew members aboard a U.S. military refuelling aircraft died when it crashed in western Iraq on March 12, military officials said.
“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) shared. “However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”
Military officials confirmed that a second aircraft was involved in Thursday’s incident but it was able to land.
The exact location of the crash site was not revealed, but the majority of western Iraq is known to be made up of desert.
