NATO has suspended training of Iraqi forces to ensure the safety of several hundred mission members amid fears for regional stability after a U.S. air strike in Baghdad killed a top Iranian general, an alliance spokesman said on Saturday.

That mission is being led by the Canadian Forces and Major General Jennie Carignan.

“The safety of our personnel in Iraq is paramount,” acting NATO spokesman Dylan White said in a statement. “We continue to take all precautions necessary. NATO’s mission is continuing, but training activities are temporarily suspended.”

He said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had spoken by phone with U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper since Friday’s attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.

NATO was monitoring the situation in the region very closely, White added, amid concern that the killing of Iran‘s second-most powerful man could trigger a conflagration in the Middle East.

A senior Canadian military source told Global News that the measure is more of a temporary pause out of due diligence.

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