Washington, Jun 22 (AP) The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel, ordered the departure of nonessential staff from the US Embassy in Lebanon and is stepping up travel warnings around the Middle East amid concerns Iran will retaliate against US interests in the region.
In internal and public notices, the department over the weekend significantly ramped up its cautionary advice to Americans in the Mideast.
In a notice on Sunday, after American strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, the department said it had ordered nonessential personnel and the families of staff at the US Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon “due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”
The notice made no mention of any potential evacuation flights or other assistance for private Americans wanting to leave Lebanon but said those who want to should try to use existing commercial services to depart.
At the same time, the department issued warnings to US citizens in Saudi Arabia and Turkey to take extra security precautions given the uncertainty.
“Given reports of regional hostilities, the US Mission to Saudi Arabia has advised its personnel to exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to any military installations in the region,” the department said in its notice for Saudi Arabia.
In Turkey, the department said US personnel “have been cautioned to maintain a low profile and instructed to avoid personal travel to the US Consulate Adana consular district,” which includes the NATO airbase at Incirlik.
“Negative sentiment toward US foreign policy may prompt actions against US or Western interests in Turkey,” the statement said.
Late Saturday, the department said it was stepping up evacuation flights for American citizens from Israel to Europe and continuing to draw down its staff at diplomatic missions in Iraq.
But even before the US airstrikes on Iran were made public by President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Washington, the US Embassy in Jerusalem had announced the start of evacuation flights for private Americans from Israel.
Sixty-seven American citizens left Israel on two government flights bound for Athens, Greece on Saturday and four more evacuation flights to Athens were planned for Sunday, according to internal State Department document seen by The Associated Press. A nongovernment charter flight is scheduled to depart Israel for Rome on Monday.
In addition to the flights, a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 American citizens, including several hundred Jewish youngsters who had been visiting Israel on an organized tour, arrived in Cyprus, according to the document.
It also said the evacuation of non-essential personnel at the US embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil is continuing. Those staffers had been ordered to leave even before Israel began its military operation in Iran more than a week ago. “As part of our ongoing effort to streamline operations, additional personnel departed Iraq on June 21 and 22,” the department said. “These departures represent a continuation of the process started on June 12.”
As of Saturday, more than 7,900 Americans had asked for assistance in leaving Israel and more than 1,000 had sought help in leaving Iran, where the US has no diplomatic presence, the document said.
There are roughly 700,000 Americans, many of them dual US-Israeli citizens, in Israel and many thousands of Americans, most of them dual US-Iranian citizens, in Iran. It was not clear how many Americans had successfully made it out of Iran through overland routes, although the document said more than 200 had entered neighbouring Azerbaijan as of Saturday since the conflict began.
After the US strikes in Iran, security officers at all US embassies and consulates have been instructed to conduct reviews of their post's security posture and report back to the State Department by late Sunday. (AP) RD
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