Scramble to evacuate citizens from war

GOVERNMENTS around the world are attempting to evacuate thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

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Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran.

But with Israel’s air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are being evacuated from third countries.

Europe

European countries have already repatriated hundreds of their citizens from Israel.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia said Tuesday they had taken 181 people home on government planes.

“It was not possible to send the army plane straight to Israel,” the Czech defence ministry said in a statement, citing the air space closure.

“The evacuees were taken to an airport in a neighbouring country by buses. They crossed the border on foot.”

The German government said flights were scheduled for this week via Jordan, while Poland said the first of its citizens were due to arrive back on Wednesday.