Flashpoints

23 Countries Want India’s Help in Yemen Evacuation Operations

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Flashpoints

23 Countries Want India’s Help in Yemen Evacuation Operations

India’s success in evacuating its citizens from Yemen hasn’t gone unnoticed.

23 Countries Want India’s Help in Yemen Evacuation Operations

The INS Mumbai with rescued Indian citizens in Djibouti. April 5, 2015.

Credit: Flickr/ MEAphotogallery

As the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign–Operation Decisive Storm–continues against the Houthi rebels who have overrun large swathes of Yemen, several countries are evacuating their citizens from the country. For India, the evacuation effort represents a mammoth undertaking. Over the weekend, New Delhi carried out the largest aerial evacuation of any country in Yemen since hostilities began: it evacuated 670 Indian citizens on three Air India flights. Additionally, India’s Navy was sent to retrieve over a thousand Indian citizens. Overall, New Delhi has successfully rescued 2,300 of its own citizens so far.

India’s rescue efforts in Yemen, codenamed Operation Raahat, haven’t gone unnoticed. According to reports on April 6, 23 countries have requested Indian assistance in evacuating their citizens from Yemen. According to a tweet by Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the list of countries comprises Bangladesh, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Romania, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, the United States, and Yemen.

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