Sat 22 June 2019:
U.S. forces are preparing to evacuate hundreds of staff working for Lockheed Martin Corp and Sallyport Global from an Iraqi military base where they work as contractors, three Iraqi military sources said Friday. Nearly 400 contractors from the two firms were getting ready to leave Balad military base, which hosts U.S. forces some 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, over “potential security threats.” Their departure was imminent, the sources said.
The sources did not give any details about the security threats. The sprawling Balad base was hit by three mortar shells last week. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Two other Iraqi bases hosting U.S. forces have been hit by rockets in the past week in unclaimed attacks. On Wednesday, a rocket attack hit near a site used by U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil near the southern city of Basra. Local officials blamed Iran-backed Shiite militias for the Basra incident. Iran has not commented on the Iraq incidents but has strongly rejected accusations by Washington that it was behind several attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf in recent weeks.
