The Government says it has already evacuated nearly 6,000 Spaniards from the Middle East

Eduardo González The Government has already evacuated nearly 5,700 Spaniards since the beginning of the escalation of the armed conflict in the Middle East as a consequence of the war between the US-Israeli coalition and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed on Tuesday. According to the head of diplomacy, speaking at the press conference following the Council of Ministers meeting, at the start of the conflict there were 31,000 Spaniards in the Middle East and, since then, 5,685 Spaniards have been evacuated from the region, “as of yesterday (Monday).” He added, “There are currently three flights flying to Spain from the Emirates and two from Qatar, carrying just over 300 Spaniards.” “Today (Tuesday) we will reach the figure of 6,000 Spaniards repatriated and evacuated from the Middle East, and we are paying special attention to particularly vulnerable cases,” he specified. Furthermore, the minister reported that “all evacuation operations for Spanish citizens remain open through all possible routes, except for the one from Iran, which concluded successfully last Saturday.” “So far, there have been nine land evacuation operations: from Tehran to Baku, from Jerusalem to Amman, from Tel Aviv to Cairo, from Bahrain to Riyadh, and from Kuwait to Riyadh; the latter two, from Bahrain to Riyadh, on two occasions, and from Kuwait to Riyadh on three occasions,” he explained. There have also been “three air evacuation operations using Spanish Air Force aircraft.” “Three planes have been sent to Muscat; the last one arrived this morning at the Torrejón Air Base. We are also working closely with all airlines flying to and from the region to rebook Spanish passengers on all commercial flights, especially those currently operating from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates,” he explained. “We have also used flights from other European Union countries to repatriate Spanish citizens, and our flights also carry citizens of other European Union countries, such as the one that arrived today at the Torrejón Air Base,” he added. Furthermore, Albares reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent “diplomatic reinforcements to Oman (three diplomats), Saudi Arabia (four diplomats), the United Arab Emirates (two diplomats), and Bahrain,” where “a diplomat will also be deployed to ensure that all Spaniards who wish to return can do so safely and securely.” He added, “We are currently working on sending additional diplomatic reinforcements to the honorary consulate in Sri Lanka to support consular assistance efforts in that country for Spaniards who were scheduled to transit through Sri Lanka but are unable to do so.” For its part, the Ministry of Defense reported early this morning the arrival in Madrid of a third plane carrying 250 evacuees from the Persian Gulf. It was an Airbus A330 from the Spanish Air Force and Space, arriving from Oman, which landed at Torrejón Air Base with 250 civilians, who were received by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles. “This is the third evacuation carried out by an A330 aircraft from the Spanish Air Force and Space, and more than 600 Spaniards have now been evacuated by the Ministry of Defense,” it added.

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