ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office this week issued an advisory warning its citizens who intend on traveling to Iraq to exercise “extreme caution” after Turkiye struck alleged militant targets in the country and Syria.
The foreign office’s statement came hours after Turkiye’s Air Force said it struck Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria in apparent retaliation for an attack on a state-run defense company that killed five people and wounded more than 20 in Ankara on Wednesday.
“In the developments in the region, Pakistani nationals planning to travel to Iraq are advised to exercise extreme caution until the situation stabilizes and airline operations return to normal,” the foreign office said in a statement on Thursday.
“For further information and facilitation, Pakistan Embassy in Baghdad can be contacted at the following contact numbers: +964-783 495 0311, +964- 772 997 7773.”
The latest surge in hostilities in the Middle East is a continuation of spiraling tensions in the region following Israel’s military campaigns in Palestine and Lebanon.
The Jewish state has killed over 42,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 and also launched its full-scale military campaign against Hezbollah almost a year later. Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has fired rockets into northern Israel in support of Palestinians.
More than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel’s fresh assaults, including 1,900 in the past five weeks, according to the country’s health ministry. Israeli authorities say 59 people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
