US seeks to reduce number of embassy staff in Bahrain, Qatar

The US has taken measures to reduce members of its staff in its two embassies in Bahrain and Qatar, noting the increase of security fears with the flow of the American forces to the Gulf region in military threat escalation against Iraq.

The US Department of State said that the Americans who live in these two Gulf states have to "assess precisely their security conditions and they have to study evacuation." In two separate warnings, the department added that the American government started on Wednesday a measure allowing free of charge air flights for those who desire to return back home including families of the two American embassies in Qatar and Bahrain.

This measure is available for the families of the workers at the American embassies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. N.