Evacuation of foreigners from Yemen accelerated

With the security situation in Yemen rapidly deteriorating, many countries have sped up evacuating their citizens amid an unabated military campaign against Houthi terrorists.
Confirming the evacuation of foreigners, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri, consultant at the defense minister’s office, said the alliance has set up a committee to help with the evacuation.
Al-Assiri said nationals from Egypt and Jordan, alliance partners in the ongoing Operation Decisive Storm, are among other nationals to be evacuated from Yemen.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement Sunday that 380 Egyptians were evacuated from Yemen by “land, sea and air” via Saudi Arabia, Oman and Djibouti.
“About 225 people entered Saudi Arabia by land crossing, before being flown to Egypt; 70 entered Oman through two land crossings, where our consular team helped them to return home; and about 60 people left Yemen by sea, going from Aden to Djibouti and were assisted by our embassy team there to return safely to Egypt,” the statement said. A few Egyptian were also flown home from Sanaa on board a flight operated by a friendly nation.
Forty-six Jordanians, including students, entered the Kingdom safely on Sunday. The third group of Jordanians was received by a representative from their consulate in Jeddah.
The Indian government also managed to evacuate about 50 percent of its citizens from Yemen via Djibouti, an Indian diplomat said.
“A three-member team from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh is in Djibouti to facilitate the evacuation of Indians,” said an Indian Embassy spokesman.
He said a group of 440 people were evacuated Sunday by ship to Djibouti and the process is being sped up for the rest.
The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry also confirmed that 39 of its citizens were safely evacuated from Yemen by air with the help of the Chinese Embassy as Sri Lanka does not have a diplomatic mission in Yemen. They will be airlifted to Bahrain and then to Colombo.
Eight Sri Lankans were also evacuated Friday and reached Djibouti by sea, the ministry said, adding that for the remaining Sri Lankans, the government has requested assistance from China, India and the United Nations.
Other countries, which have evacuated their nationals are Algeria (160), Tunisia (40), Mauritius (15), Libya (8), Morocco (3) and Palestine (one).
China, Djibouti and Sudan also joined evacuation efforts on Sunday while requests from Canada, Germany and Iraq were being processed, coalition sources said.
“The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised its citizens against all travel plans to Yemen and instructed others to leave the country immediately, if anyone is there,” said a British Embassy spokesperson in Riyadh.
Earlier, the United Nations also evacuated more than 100 of its international staff from Sanaa.