Foreign nationals evacuated as Israel-Iran conflict escalates
ISLAMABAD—Countries are evacuating their nationals from Israel and Iran by air, land and sea as conflict rages between the bitter rivals.
Days of attacks and reprisals by the two enemies have shuttered airspace across the Middle East, severely disrupting commercial flights and leaving people unable to get in or out of the region easily.
Some governments are using land borders to get their citizens out by road to countries where airports remain open.
Thousands of foreigners have already left since the conflict started last Friday when Israel launched surprise missile strikes on Iran.
Bulgaria has moved all its diplomats from Tehran to the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, the Balkan country’s prime minister said Thursday.
China said it has evacuated more than 1,600 nationals from Iran and “several hundred others” from Israel.
Aell Huang, who was in the Iranian city of Isfahan, said he didn’t feel safe during the conflict. “I heard explosions from time to time. Civilians got hurt too.”
He and some friends hired a car and headed to Azerbaijan.
The European Union has helped evacuate some 400 people from Israel via Jordan and Egypt.
“We cofinance these flights up to 75 percent of the transport costs,” European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova said on Wednesday.
‘Glad to be home’
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Thursday it was helping nationals who want to leave Iran and Israel to do so through neighboring countries where commercial flights were still available.
Germany flew 171 people out of Amman on a special flight on Wednesday. Passenger Daniel Halav said he had “never been so glad to be home” after landing in Frankfurt.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry said 141 Greeks and other nationals have been evacuated from Israel via Egypt.
They were flown to Athens early Wednesday from Sharm el-Sheikh aboard two military transport planes.
India said it evacuated 110 students by road from northern Iran to the Armenian capital, Yerevan. They left on a special flight on June 18.
Tourists
As of Thursday, some 22,000 holidaymakers had asked the Israeli Tourism Ministry to help them leave the country. There are around 38,000 tourists in Israel.
The Indonesian government on Thursday decided to evacuate its nationals from Iran.
Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono said about 386 Indonesians, mostly students, were in Iran. The ministry earlier said some 194 Indonesians were in Israel.
Japan is sending two C-2 military aircraft to Djibouti to stand by for the possible airlifting of Japanese nationals from Iran.
The State Department is planning to evacuate Americans from Israel by air and on cruise ships, according to the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
There are some 700,000 Americans, many of them dual US-Israeli citizens, in Israel and thousands more in other Mideast countries.
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