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Also, among the continuous breaking news, is what the American State Department mentioned about raising the travel advisory level to Jordan, Amman, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates to Level Three. Our Al Jazeera correspondent, Ahmed Al-Raheed, joins us from Washington. Welcome, Ahmed. What are the details of what the American State Department conveyed regarding travel to these countries, especially since yesterday, or the day before yesterday, there was a statement, uh, requesting American citizens in 14 countries in the Middle East to leave those countries?
Yes, now, Mohammed, the American State Department classifies these countries into several levels. From Level Three up to Level Four, it has now placed Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen in Level Four. This level means no travel to these countries for American citizens. It requests American citizens not to travel to these countries, and this is Level Four. As for Level Three, it is to reconsider travel. Any American, if they have intentions to travel to these countries classified in Level Three, they must reconsider that. These are Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, as well as Jordan, the West Bank, in addition to Gaza. This is Level Three, which means taking precautions or reconsidering travel. As for Egypt, it is in Level Two, which means taking caution and vigilance when traveling to it. This is regarding travel advisories. Regarding evacuation operations, the United States, through President Donald Trump, stated that more than 9,000 American citizens have returned to the United States safely during the past few days since the start of this operation. The American State Department had directed American citizens in 14 countries in the Middle East region to leave immediately and to contact the embassy, consulates, in addition to the American State Department if they needed assistance in that. It provided a number of numbers, as well as advised them to register in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) or the STEP application, in addition to using available commercial means. President Donald Trump also spoke in a post on the Truth Social platform that they are chartering paid commercial flights for American citizens who wish to return and advised them to contact the State Department if they intended to return. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Congress also spoke about this matter to journalists, saying that more than 9,000 have returned and more than 1,500 have registered for return to the United States. The State Department justifies this as a result of what it describes as dangerous conditions in these countries and the region.
There were also striking statements from the American Central Command during this night. Can we briefly focus on the most prominent of what was said in those statements?
Indeed, there was a video statement from the Commander of the U.S. Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, in which he spoke about the latest updates related to what the United States calls Operation Epic Wrath. He said that during the first 100 hours of this operation, they were able to target more than 2,000 targets in Iran, using more than 200 American fighter jets. He also says that the number of American forces in the region exceeds 50,000 soldiers, in addition to two aircraft carriers and formations of American destroyers and bombers. He also spoke about the use of B-1 and B-2 strategic bombers to target fortifications used by Iranian authorities for storing weapons and ballistic missile stockpiles. He also spoke about what he described as air dominance over Iranian airspace. He also spoke about the destruction of 17 Iranian Navy ships and said that there is no Iranian Navy ship currently in the waters of the Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz. He also stated that the United States will proceed with this operation until it achieves its objectives and said that they are ahead of schedule. He also offered his condolences to the families of the American killed and victims in this operation.