US orders non-emergency consular staff in Karachi, Lahore to leave Pakistan
At least 25 people died in weekend protests in Pakistan against the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to an AFP tally, with hundreds of protesters attempting to storm the consulate in Karachi, the country's most populous city.
The United States said yesterday (4 March) it ordered non-emergency staff at two Pakistani consulates to leave the country and granted permission for staff to leave missions in Saudi Arabia, Cyprus and Oman as Iran retaliates to US-Israeli raids.
The US State Department ordered non-emergency US government employees and their family members at the consulates in Lahore and Karachi to leave Pakistan due to "safety risks," the US embassy in Pakistan said in a statement.
It said there was no change to the status of its embassy in the capital Islamabad.
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At least 25 people died in weekend protests in Pakistan against the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to an AFP tally, with hundreds of protesters attempting to storm the consulate in Karachi, the country's most populous city.
The State Department also authorised non-emergency US government employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, Oman and Cyprus and asked Americans to reconsider traveling to all three countries.
The US advice on Cyprus is unusual for a European Union member.
The move came after Iranian-made drones, likely fired by Iranian-backed movement Hezbollah in Lebanon, targeted a British military base in Cyprus, which historically has maintained a non-aligned foreign policy.
A drone also damaged the US embassy in Saudi capital Riyadh.
The State Department says it is planning charter flights to take Americans out of the region, with citizens until now relying on commercial flights which have been severely disrupted by the war.
The United States and Israel launched the attack on 28 February and quickly killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two days after US envoys had been speaking to Iran in Geneva on a nuclear accord.
Since then, Iran has expanded its retaliatory missile and drone barrage across the Middle East.
