Washington has advised non-essential staff to leave its consulate general located just outside the southern Turkish city of Adana and near İncirlik Air Base, which hosts US troops, and ordered US citizens to leave southeast Turkey, the US Embassy in Ankara said Monday.
Since the US-Israeli attacks began on February 28, Iran has retaliated with missile and drone strikes across the Middle East in a bid to hit US assets.
So far, Turkey appears to have been spared, despite the fact that US troops are stationed at several of its bases.
One is İncirlik Air Base, a military facility that has been used by US troops and NATO missions for decades and is located just 10 kilometers (six miles) outside the city of Adana.
“On March 9, 2026, the Department of State ordered non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Consulate General Adana due to the safety risks,” the embassy said on X.
Southeast Türkiye: The Travel Advisory for Southeast Türkiye has been raised to Level 4 – Do Not Travel. The Travel Advisory for Türkiye remains at Level 2 – Exercise Increased Caution.
There were no changes to the advisory level or risk indicators for Türkiye. However, the area… pic.twitter.com/TUYmDEbFN2
— U.S. Embassy Türkiye (@USEmbTurkiye) March 9, 2026
It referenced a State Department travel advisory saying: “Americans in southeast Turkey are strongly encouraged to depart now.”
Last Wednesday and today, NATO troops intercepted two Turkey-bound ballistic missiles launched from Iran that prompted a sharp warning from Ankara.
NATO has since Wednesday said it strengthened its “ballistic missile defense posture” as Iran steps up its strikes across the region.
“A ballistic munition launched from Iran and entering Turkish airspace was neutralised by NATO air and missile defense assets in the eastern Mediterranean,” the defense ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Some fragments from the weaponry fell in open territory in the southern Gaziantep area, causing no injuries, the ministry added.
Last week, the ministry said NATO’s defense systems had intercepted and neutralized “a ballistic missile fired from Iran and detected heading towards Turkey” but added no further details.
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the missile was spotted by Spanish troops who are based at İncirlik and were manning a Patriot missile battery.
They had “detected and reported the missile attack,” though they were not the ones that shot it down, she said.
© Agence France-Presse