Kuwaiti govt refutes news of US troops withdrawal from country

The Kuwaiti government Wednesday refuted the news of US troops withdrawal from the country, saying the state news agency was hacked. 

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) apparently reported on Wednesday that Kuwait's defence minister received a letter from the commander in chief of a US military camp in Kuwait "declaring imminent withdrawal of all US military forces in three days."

"Receiving such letter from Camp Arifjan was unexpected and we are communicating with US Department of Defense for more details and information,” the agency had reported the minister as saying.

Top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani was killed last week in a US strike on Baghdad´s international airport, which led to escalation of tension between the two countries.

The Pentagon had said US President Donald Trump ordered Soleimani's "killing," after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy. Declaring three days of mourning across the country, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to take "severe revenge" for Soleimani´s death.

In a response to the US strike that killed Al Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, Iran fired multiple surface-to-surface ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that housed American troops. This was the first time that Iran has directly engaged the US military in conflict as previously the two countries waged battles against each other through proxies and militias.