The flight bound for Delhi carrying the first batch of Indian nationals evacuated from Israel due to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict has been diverted to Kuwait, sources told The Indian Express.
The flight carrying 161 Indian nationals took off from Amman and was scheduled to land in New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1.19 AM early Tuesday morning. But due to an escalation in the conflict with Iran launching missile strikes at a US millitary base in Qatar and evolving airspace conditions, the flight had to be diverted to Kuwait and has landed there.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Kuwait have closed their airspaces. Qatar said on Monday that it reserves the right to respond directly and in accordance with international law after a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the Al Udeid Air Base, southwest of Doha, marking a major escalation in the conflict that began on June 13. The base houses around 10,000 troops. While condemning the attack on the US airbase, Qatar said it successfully intercepted the missiles and no casualties were reported, as per news agency Reuters.
“Under #OperationSindhu, so far 604 Indian nationals have been safely evacuated from Israel via Jordan and Egypt,” the Indian Embassy in Israel had posted on Monday evening. “The first batch of 161 Indian nationals will reach New Delhi on 24 June at 0119 hrs IST,” it also said.
Under Operation Sindhu, 2003 Indians have also been brought back from Iran to India till now.
Indian airlines operations were also impacted due to the conflict. “Amid the developing situation in the Middle East, Air India has ceased all operations to the region as well as to and from the East Coast of North America and Europe with immediate effect, until further notice,” Air India said. “Our India-bound flights from North America are diverting back to their respective origins and others are being diverted back to India or re-routed away from the closed airspaces,” it added.