The United States on Thursday warned its employees in Israel that they should restrict personal travel outside the areas surrounding the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beel Thursday that it had restricted personal travel of its employees in Israel and their family members outside the areas. metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheba. The security alert coincides with a time of high tension with Iran, which has vowed revenge for the April 1 airstrike against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. US intelligence predicts that retaliation may come in the coming days and in the form of a missile or drone attack.
"Out of an abundance of caution, US government employees and their families are restricted from personal travel outside the metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv (including Herzliya, Netanya and Even Yehuda), Jerusalem and Beersheba until further notice," the US embassy said. .USA on its web portal. "US government personnel are authorized to transit between these three areas for personal travel," she added.
Washington has a policy of informing all US citizens with these types of warnings when it updates security measures for its personnel in a country.
US President Joe Biden assured on Wednesday that Iran was threatening to launch a "significant attack on Israel" and expressed his support for the security of his ally, despite the fact that days before he had been very critical of the Gaza war.
When asked about the security alert, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller noted that Iran had been making public threats toward Israel. "I'm not going to talk about the specific assessments that led us to restrict personal travel for our employees and family members, but we are clearly monitoring the threat environment in the Middle East and specifically Israel."
The United States has called on Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iraq to urge Iran to refrain from escalating the conflict. Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom also urged Middle Eastern countries on Thursday to show restraint. Meanwhile, Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the attack on Damascus but everything points to its responsibility, was preparing to "satisfy all its security needs" in a region in suspense.
Iran has indicated to Washington that it will respond to Israel's attack in a way that aims to prevent further escalation and will not act hastily, Iranian sources said.
The conflict has spread across the Middle East since the outbreak of the Gaza war, with Iranian-backed groups declaring support for Palestinians launching attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Tehran has avoided direct confrontation with Israel or the United States, while declaring its support for its allies.
