(Eagle News)–The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Filipinos in Iraq to prepare in case an evacuation is needed.
The DFA issued the advisory amid heightening tensions between Iran and the United States, following the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qassim Suleimani in Baghdad.
“Filipinos in Iraq are strongly advised to coordinate closely with the Philippine Embassy and their employers in the event mandatory evacuation will be necessary,” the DFA said.
The DFA also advised all Filipinos traveling to Iraq to cancel, until further notice.
The embassy, the DFA said, may be contacted at (+964) 781-606-6822; (+964) 751-616-7838; and (+964) 751-876-4665 or via email: baghdad.pe@dfa.gov.ph; and through its Facebook page: Philippine Embassy in Iraq.
US President Donald Trump was said to have authorized the airstrike that killed Suleimani.
Trump told reporters he authorized the attack to “prevent a war,” alleging that Suleimani was plotting “imminent and siinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel..”
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed “severe revenge” for the death of its top commander.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, on the other hand, called the airstrike a “brazen violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and blatant attack on the nation’s dignity.”
