Some personnel ‘advised to leave’ US military base in Qatar: Report 

Some personnel have been advised to leave the United States military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting three diplomats.

The report comes amid warnings from the US that ​it could intervene in protests currently taking place in Iran.

“It’s a posture change and not an ordered evacuation,” one diplomat said, adding that they were not aware that a ‌specific reason had been given for the posture change.

There has been no comment from the US embassy in Doha. Al Jazeera has reached out to Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

Al Udeid is the Middle East’s largest US base, housing about 10,000 troops.

Last year, more than a week before the US launched air strikes on Iran, some personnel and ‌families were moved off US bases in the Middle East. After the US attacks in June, Iran launched ‍a missile attack on the base in Qatar.

A senior Iranian official earlier said Tehran had warned regional countries it ‌would strike US military bases in case of an attack by ‌Washington.

The 24-hectare (59-acre) base, in the desert outside the capital Doha, is ⁠the forward headquarters for US Central Command, which directs US military operations in a huge swath of territory stretching from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan ​in the east.

More to come…