US denies ‘abandoning’ staff after Iraq flight to Akrotiri

The United States’ state department on Sunday stressed that it did not “abandon” its people after it was confirmed that several of its officials left Iraq on a British military aircraft which landed at the British Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus.

“The characterisation of the United States abandoning its people is false. There is no higher priority than the safety of our people,” a state department spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail.

They added that the state department had...