Americans urged to leave countries across Middle East

The US embassy in Baghdad has issued a fresh warning for its citizens to leave Iraq after a missile hit the embassy building earlier on Saturday.

In its warning, the US embassy said citizens should “leave Iraq now”.

“US citizens choosing to remain in Iraq are strongly encouraged to reconsider in light of the significant threat posed by Iran-aligned terrorist militia groups,” the embassy wrote.

As Iran has launched strikes at US targets across the Middle East, the US has urged its citizens to leave more than a dozen countries.

Separately, the US said on Saturday it had ordered non-emergency government employees and the relatives of government employees to leave Oman, according to Reuters.