Governments around the world are evacuating thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, with European countries having already repatriated hundreds of their citizens from Israel and Iran.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia said on Tuesday, June 19th that they had taken 181 people home on government planes.
The German government said flights were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday via Jordan, while Poland said the first of its citizens were due to arrive back on Wednesday.
Greece said it had repatriated 105 of its citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt, while a private plane with 148 people landed in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Tuesday.
Hungary said it evacuated six Hungarian citizens from Iran on Thursday, June 19th, adding that it has also suspended local operations of the Tehran embassy until the security situation improves.
On Tuesday, June 18th, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said European countries were coordinating efforts to evacuate citizens who wanted to leave the region. “We have member states that have planes leaving, we have member states who don’t have planes, and we coordinate the efforts so that our citizens are safe,” she said.
On Wednesday, June 19th, European Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova confirmed that the European Union has evacuated over 400 its citizens from the Middle East under its Civil Protection Mechanism.
