Oil companies evacuate as Burjisiya drone attack highlights rising threat

BASRA - Foreign oil companies are speeding up evacuations after armed drones struck a key logistics hub in Basra and security officials issued warnings that American companies throughout Iraq are now targets for Iran and its proxies in a widening regional war.

Hundreds of staff from a wide range of international oil companies and oil services firms — including not just American companies, but also British, Italian, French, and Chinese firms — are leaving Iraq, according to officials at the state-run Basra Oil Company (BOC), local security officials, and workers at several different oil fields.