The US Embassy in Ankara issued a security advisory on 9 March advising all non-essential US personnel to leave the consulate in the southern Turkish city of Adana, located in the south of the country next to the major NATO air base at İncirlik, as soon as possible, while ordering US citizens not to travel to southern Turkey.
In a statement released from the US Embassy’s official account on the social network X, it announced that “The Travel Advisory for Southeast Türkiye has been raised to Level 4 – Do Not Travel“, adding that “The Travel Advisory for Türkiye remains at Level 2 – Exercise Increased Caution“.
The message, issued in English and Turkish, went on to say that “The area of increased risk in Southeast Türkiye was updated in the Travel Advisory to reflect changes to U.S. mission operations.”
Also, the statement reported that “On March 9, 2026, the Department of State ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and U.S. government employee family members to leave Consulate General Adana out of an abundance of caution,” echoing another warning issued by the US State Department announcing that “Americans in southeast Turkey are strongly encouraged to depart now.”
Iranian strikes against southern Turkey
Since US and Israeli strikes against Iran began on 28 February, Tehran has responded with Iranian missile and drone launches against US targets in several Middle Eastern countries. The İncirlik air base, a key NATO facility used by US troops for decades and located about 10 kilometres from the southern Turkish city of Adana, was reportedly the target of a missile launched on 4 March that was intercepted by NATO forces deployed in the region.
In the last few hours, the Turkish Defence Ministry also reported that another Iranian ballistic missile, which after flying over Iraq and Syria was heading towards Turkish airspace, was destroyed in mid-flight, in the second incident of this kind in just six days. The missile in this case was shot down over the Turkish province of Gaziantep, but it is not known whether it was aimed at US troops deployed in İncirlik or at the US consulate in Adana.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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