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The US embassy in Baghdad on Thursday urged American citizens to leave Iraq immediately due to the heightened risk of attacks by Iran-backed militias.
The embassy's security alert said those groups may seek to carry out attacks in central Baghdad within the next two days, with US citizens, businesses, universities and diplomatic sites among the potential targets.
Militias may also look to attack "energy infrastructure, hotels, airports and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets", the embassy said.
The warning comes after a wave of attacks against US interests in Iraq since the start of the Iran war on February 28. Iran-backed groups claimed responsibility for those attacks, vowing to support Tehran and avenge the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Drone and rocket attacks have been carried out on the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, a logistics hub at Baghdad International Airport used by US military personnel, Harir Air Base, which houses American troops, and the US consulate in Erbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region.
The US has also launched strikes against militias and security personnel, including the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), with more than 100 fighters killed and about 300 injured since the outbreak of the conflict. On Wednesday, three fighters with the PMF, an umbrella group of mainly Iran-backed militias, were killed in an attack on the outskirts of Mosul, the group said in a statement. It blamed the US and Israel.
“The Iraqi government has not prevented terrorist attacks in or from Iraqi territory,” the US embassy said. “Iran-aligned terrorist militia groups may claim to be associated with the Iraqi government. Terrorists may carry identification denoting their status as Iraqi government employees.
It added that US citizens "should leave Iraq now" using "overland routes to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey", because airspace outside Iraq was closed.
The threat to Americans came into sharp focus this week, after US freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in Baghdad on Tuesday. Iraqi authorities have arrested one suspect but gave no further details. US State Department spokesman Dylan Johnson said the suspect has ties to powerful militia group Kataib Hezbollah.
