ISLAMABAD (AP) — 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
Bulgaria has moved all its diplomats from Tehran to the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, the Balkan country’s prime minister said Thursday.
“We are not closing the embassy, but moving it to Baku until the danger passes,” said Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.
A group of 89 Bulgarians was evacuated from Israel by plane to Sofia, along with 59 nationals from Slovenia, the U.S., Belgium, Albania, Kosovo and Romania.
They left from the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where they had been transferred by bus across the border from Israel.
He said the government had urged all Bulgarians willing to join the convoy to do so. They set off in 11 vehicles on Wednesday morning.
“There were alternatives. They could travel via Turkey, but eventually we decided that they should go via Azerbaijan,” Zhelyazkov added.
China
China said it has evacuated more than 1,600 nationals from Iran and “several hundred others” from Israel.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing would continue to do its “utmost to assist in the safe transfer and evacuation of Chinese citizens.”
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. I got more prepared mentally once I saw the embassy’s warning.”
He and some friends hired a car and headed to Azerbaijan, waiting at border control for almost 12 hours, where he saw as many as 60 other Chinese nationals.
The Chinese Embassy said it would organize group evacuations by bus from Israel starting Friday.
A notice posted on the embassy’s WeChat social media account said citizens would be taken out through the Taba border crossing to Egypt. It asked them to register online and said they would be notified of the evacuation time.
People carrying Chinese, Hong Kong, and Macao passports were eligible, the notice said.
European Union
The European Union has helped evacuate some 400 people from Israel via Jordan and Egypt as part of its efforts to coordinate an emergency response within the 27-nation bloc.
“Member states coordinate the list and we co-finance these flights up to 75% of the transport costs,” European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova told a regular press conference in Brussels on Wednesday.
Hrncirova said the E.U. was fielding requests by Slovakia, Lithuania, Greece, and Poland for assistance with Middle East evacuations.
France
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.
Barrot said people in Iran could travel to Armenia and Turkey without a visa. Those unable to reach the border on their own would be “transported by convoy by the end of the week” so they could take commercial flights to France.
French nationals wanting to leave Israel can go via Jordan and Egypt. From Friday morning, some buses will carry passengers from the Israeli border to Amman and Sharm el-Sheikh airports.
Germany
Germany flew 171 people out of Amman on a special flight on Wednesday. A further 174 people returned on Thursday and another flight is planned this weekend.
Passenger Daniel Halav, who was stuck in Tel Aviv, said he had “never been so glad to be home” after landing in Frankfurt, the German news agency dpa reported.
But, he said, “we had to take care of ourselves of how we got to Amman. From my point of view, we were left a bit alone there.”
The German Foreign Ministry said officials had decided against organizing convoys to get people to Amman, arguing this move could have created a security risk and that those wishing to leave were scattered across Israel.
Greece
Greece’s Foreign Ministry said 141 Greeks and other nationals have been evacuated from Israel via Egypt.
The group included citizens from Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
They were flown to Athens early Wednesday from Sharm el-Sheikh aboard two military transport planes.
India
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.
The Indian Embassy in Iran has been helping nationals to move from areas experiencing increased hostilities to relatively safer areas within the country, subsequently evacuating them, according to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
Israel
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 Transport Ministry said thousands of Israelis have returned daily in the past few days, with 21 planes bringing back nationals stranded abroad since the start of the aerial campaign against Iran.
The Population, Immigration, and Border Authority said 38,250 Israelis entered the country between June 13 and 19, and 21,456 left during the same period.
The majority of arrivals and departures were by land.
Middle East & North Africa
Oman said Thursday it had evacuated 245 of its citizens and nationals from other countries via the Iranian coastal city of Bandar Abbas.
Ten buses transported Omani citizens from Iran’s north into Turkey. A further three buses crossed into Iraq.
Indonesia
The Indonesian government on Thursday decided to evacuate its nationals from Iran.
“Our citizens are at risk,” Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono said. “Over the past two days, Israel’s attacks have grown more intense, not only targeting the military, but also civilians.”
He said about 386 Indonesians, mostly students, were in Iran, primarily in the city of Qom. The ministry earlier said some 194 Indonesians were in Israel, mostly student interns in the southern city of Rafah.
Sugiono did not give a timeframe for evacuations, but said Iran has promised to help with the process.
Japan
Japan is sending two military aircraft to Djibouti to stand by for the possible airlifting of Japanese nationals from Iran.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters he had issued an order to send two C-2 transport aircraft, along with 120 armed forces personnel, to the Horn of Africa nation, where Japan has a military base. An advance team of servicemembers left Japan earlier Thursday.
Chief of the Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida said the C-2 dispatch was to secure multiple options for evacuation when necessary.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the embassy in Iran was preparing to evacuate an unspecified number of Japanese nationals by bus.
Some 280 Japanese are in Iran, and 1,000 are in Israel.
Poland
Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Moscicka-Dendys said a group would depart from Amman by military aircraft on Thursday, following road transportation from Israel to the Jordanian border.
Some 160 Poles arrived in Warsaw on Wednesday morning from Israel via Egypt, the Polish news agency PAP reported.
The deputy minister said while there were no plans to evacuate citizens from Iran, Warsaw was helping with the departure of non-essential personnel from the embassy in Tehran.
The staff, along with seven Polish citizens, left the Iranian capital on Wednesday morning for the Azerbaijan border.
South Korea
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry says 18 South Korean nationals and two Iranian family members were evacuated from Iran and arrived in Turkmenistan late Wednesday by land.
The ministry described the evacuation as a preemptive move to protect citizens as the closure of airspace would have otherwise made it difficult for them to leave.
It urged South Koreans in Iran and Israel to promptly depart in line with embassy instructions and advised travelers to cancel or postpone trips to the region.
Twenty-five nationals and one Israeli family member were escorted out of Israel by embassy staff and arrived in Jordan on Thursday morning.
Thailand
Thai nationals have been advised to leave Tehran at the earliest opportunity and avoid traveling to affected areas, although there is no immediate plan for an evacuation from Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura said Wednesday.
He said there are about 350 Thais in Iran and only five had expressed a wish to return to Thailand.
The embassy in Tehran has set up a temporary shelter for Thais in Amol and has temporarily relocated its office to Kordan to ensure the safety of those needing to travel for the services.
The embassy has also prepared the land routes for Thais to travel to Iran’s neighbors, Nikorndej said.
United States
The State Department is planning to evacuate Americans from Israel by air and on cruise ships, according to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Huckabee said Americans interested in leaving Israel should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program for updates.
There are some 700,000 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, in Israel and thousands more in other Mideast countries, including Iran.
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Associated Press writers from around the world contributed to this report.
