More than 100 French citizens were evacuated from Israel to Cyprus on Tuesday after being stranded there as the war with Iran broke out. Close to 100 Indonesian nationals in Iran were also successfully repatriated as Jakarta plans to carry out further evacuation missions.
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102 French citizens arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday aboard a French military aircraft after evacuation from Israel. The French Ambassador to Cyprus, Clélia Chevrier Kolačko said the plane flew from Tel Aviv to Larnaca.
“I really need to thank them very much (Cypriot authorities), we are offering them shelter here in Larnaca. And tomorrow they will go back to Paris,” said Kolačko.
France’s Foreign Ministry arranged the flight out and more are expected to arrive to Cyprus on Wednesday, according to the ambassador.
Jeremie Khiat said he arrived in Israel 15 days ago for a vacation with friends and family, when the missiles started flying at the start of the war between Israel and Iran on 8 June.
He said the original plan was to flee to Egypt by bus on Monday, but the French embassy notified them that a military aircraft would fly them out of Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday. The Parisian said he was relieved to leave.
“There was like a few attacks that were very scary, but everyone is doing great,” noted Khiat.
Cyprus has become a key transit hub for people evacuated from Israel to be repatriated following the start of the war. Thousands of Israeli citizens stranded abroad have come to Cyprus to either catch a flight or return home aboard a cruise ship that brought evacuees.
Cyprus has activated its ESTIA plan for the brief hosting and repatriation of third country nationals from regional conflict areas. The plan is enacted by the foreign ministry in emergencies and national crises.
Meanwhile, the first commercial flight evacuating Indonesian citizens from Iran landed in the country’s capital on Tuesday amid escalating regional tensions. The first round of 29 evacuees were initially scheduled to fly home on three flights from Azerbaijani capital, Baku.
However, only eleven of them arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Tuesday evening on a Turkish Airlines flight.
Travel plans for the remaining evacuees were rescheduled after two Qatar Airways flights were impacted by the closure of Qatar’s airspace, following Iran’s attacks on the US’ Al-Udeid Air Base in retaliation for Washington’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Indonesia recently ordered the evacuation of its citizens from the warring Iran and Israel.
About 386 Indonesians were residing in Iran, many of whom were studying in the country’s metropolis, Qom. As of Tuesday, only 96 Indonesians had left Iran using land routes via Azerbaijan – 93 of which were civilians and three embassy staff.
Andy Rachmianto, an Indonesian diplomat currently in charge of coordinating the evacuation of Indonesian citizens from Iran said their embassies in the Gulf region are receiving more requests for evacuations as “the escalation of the conflict is still ongoing and is still very dynamic.”
The Indonesian diplomat added that the government plans to carry out a second phase of evacuations for its citizens in the region soon.