‘DEPART NOW’ – State Department urges all Americans to immediately leave THESE countries
2026-03-03 - 08:34
WASHINGTON – The US Department of State has issued an urgent travel advisory, urging American citizens to leave more than a dozen countries in the Middle East due to the escalating military tensions between the U.S. and Israel against Iran. The updated warning follows a series of recent advisories from the Department of State, which recommended against travel to several countries in the region due to growing safety concerns. The advisory covers Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Mora Namdar, the US Department of State’s Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, posted on social media, advising U.S. citizens to “DEPART NOW” from these countries, emphasizing the “serious safety risks” and suggesting they use commercial transport to leave as soon as possible. Earlier in the day, the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan, confirmed that it had evacuated its staff from the diplomatic mission due to a security threat. Earlier a drone attack targeted the US embassy in Riyadh, causing a small fire and some material damage, according to the Kingdom’s defence ministry. The ministry shared the development on social media platform X on Tuesday. The drone strikes come amid ongoing military escalation, which started after Israel and the US launched attack against Iran that is retaliating with missiles and drones. Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion and observing flames at the embassy early Tuesday morning. While the fire was described as minor, black smoke was visible rising from Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, an area that hosts various foreign embassies. The US Central Command has confirmed that two more service members have been killed, taking the toll to six. “As of 4 pm ET, March 2, six U.S. service members have been killed in action. U.S. forces recently recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted for service members from a facility that was struck during Iran’s initial attacks in the region,” Centcom said in a tweet.