US urges its citizens to ‘depart Iraq immediately’ after Soleimani’s killing

The United States embassy in Baghdad on Friday urged its citizens to “depart Iraq immediately” fearing fallout after the killing of Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani. “Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region, the US Embassy urges American citizens to heed the January 2020 Travel Advisory and depart Iraq immediately. US citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land,” it said in a statement. The embassy issued the statement hours after the Quds Force leader and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in an air strike. Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani called the US airstrike near Baghdad’s airport a “heinous crime” and said the country “will take revenge”. Iran’s president added that “the path of resistance to US excesses will continue.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed on Friday the commander of its Quds Force foreign operations arm had been killed by US forces in Baghdad, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denouncing it as a “dangerous escalation”. Meanwhile, China appealed for restraint from all sides, especially the US, and said it opposes the use of force in international relations after Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in the US strike in Iraq. Soleimani, one of the most popular figures in Iran, seen as a deadly adversary by America and its allies Source: Hindustan Times