DFA projects Middle East war to last 4-8 weeks

MANILA, Philippines — The ongoing war in the Middle East is projected to last for about four to eight weeks based on the reports received by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Germina Aguilar-Usudan, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary in the Office of Middle East and African Affairs, bared the projection before the Senate committee on foreign relations’ Friday hearing.

“Based on the reports from various posts, we were informed that the US is trying to send more rockets to Iran, and then the president (Donald Trump) is also trying to have a say on who will be the next leader of Iran. So the projection from the reports that we received, it will take four weeks to eight weeks,” said Aguilar-Usudan.

READ: US says 2,000 targets hit as Iran retaliates across Gulf

“It’s not like the previous Israel-Iran war, which only took 12 days. We received reports that Iran would like to negotiate but it was discounted by the Iranian government and Trump has said yesterday that he’s more ready for war this time. We hope it will end soon, but based on the situation, I think it will be a protracted war. This is an unconventional war that’s why we are also doing unconventional assistance to our OFWs,” she added.

On February 28, Israel and the United States launched joint military strikes against Iran, blowing military sites. These were reportedly part of a sustained campaign amid long-standing tensions between Iran and Israel.

The attacks triggered a wide-ranging retaliation from Iran and helped escalate the conflict across the region.

Earlier, the Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, said embassies stand ready to assist nationals and continue to monitor the situation while advising Filipinos to remain indoors.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said at least 1,189 overseas Filipino workers have already requested repatriation from several Middle East countries.

As of 12 p.m. on Wednesday, the breakdown of this is as follows: 278 from Bahrain, 46 from Israel, 62 from Kuwait, 231 from Dubai, 246 from Abu Dhabi, 173 from Qatar, and five from Lebanon. /cb