MANILA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to prepare for a possible evacuation of 7,600 Filipinos in Iran and Iraq in case security situation worsens in the Middle East following the U.S. assassination of a prominent Iranian general in Baghdad.
Arsenio Andolong, spokesperson of the Department of National Defense, said Duterte convened his security team on Sunday afternoon at the presidential palace to discuss about the unfolding security situation gripping the Middle East countries.
Among those who attended the top-level meeting were Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the AFP chief of staff, the chief of the Philippine National Police, the commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and their principal staffs for an emergency meeting, Andolong said.
"The sole agenda was how to insure the safety of our countrymen in the Middle East specially those in Iraq and Iran as the tension between the U.S. and Iran rises," Andolong said in a statement.
He said there are 1,600 and 6,000 Filipinos in Iran and Iraq, respectively.
"The president has tasked the AFP to prepare its air and naval assets to evacuate and bring home our countrymen if and when open hostilities erupt in the Middle East that may endanger their lives," Andolong added.
Tension rose between Tehran and Washington following the assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force, along with an Iraqi militia commander, in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad's International Airport early on Friday.
On Friday, the Philippine government urged its citizens not to travel to Iraq due to the tension in the Middle East.
