Philippine soldiers will be sent to Iraq for OFW evacuation.
PHILIPPINE SOLDIERS – The Philippines will be sending off troops to Iraq for OFW evacuation says Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday.
The killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike created the tension. Now, as the conflict of Iran and US worsen and starting to escalate on high level, the Philippine government is also in full alert due to the OFWs who are based in the above-mentioned countries.
In a previous report, a mandatory evacuation for the OFWs has been declared and the Filipinos living in Iraq were ordered to return home. An update with the situation, Iran has attacked two army bases in Iraq which was accordingly housing troops from the US. And if the US retaliates, they would also attack Dubai and Israel.
With all these happening, Philippine government raised alert level 4 in Iraq, the highest crisis alert level. Thus, the country will be sending off troops to Iraq for the evacuation of the OFWs where a military ship, air assets, and 2 battalions of soldiers will partake in the mission. The logistics and documentation of the troops which will be deployed are still on process.
The troops are not going there to fight. There are approximately 1,600 Filipinos in Iraq. But it is still up to them if they want to evacuate to the Philippines or neighboring Middle East states.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said based on ABS-CBN’s report, “We have to respect kung ano ‘yung gusto nila especially kung Iranian or Iraqi citizens ‘yung kanilang spouses… But we have to make sure that they are also safe.”
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