New Delhi: The Indian government evacuated 75 nationals from war-torn Syria Tuesday via Lebanon, from where they will return to India via commercial flights, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a late night statement.
“The evacuees included 44 ‘zaireen’ from Jammu & Kashmir who were stranded at Saida Zainab. All Indian nationals have safely crossed over to Lebanon and will return by available commercial flights to India,” the statement read.
It added: “The evacuation, coordinated by the embassies of India in Damascus and Beirut, was put into effect following our assessment of the security situation and requests from Indian nationals in Syria.”
Last week, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the MEA had said that there were around 90 Indians living in the West Asian country. On 6 December, the Indian government had issued an advisory, urging nationals to “avoid” all travel to the West Asian country.
By Sunday, the previous regime in Syria, headed by Bashar al-Assad, had collapsed with the rapid advance by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by UN-sanctioned terrorist Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani. The group, which was formed in 2017 following the merger of the al-Nusrah Front—another organisation sanctioned by the United Nations (UN).
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s advance towards Damascus began at the end of November, when it captured Aleppo, one of the biggest prizes in the 13-year civil war. City after city fell to the onslaught of the outfit before Assad’s forces collapsed across the country. In less than two weeks, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham went from controlling a small pocket in Northern Syria to leading the entire country.
Assad and his family have fled Syria to Russia. The MEA last week had also highlighted that there were a number of Indians working with the United Nations aid agencies, apart from the roughly 90, in the country.
Through the last few days, the Indian embassy in Damascus has remained open and continues its operations.