Close to 10,000 Poles evacuated from Middle East, MFA says
Nearly 10,000 Poles have been evacuated from the Middle East, the foreign ministry spokesman has said, as the US-Israeli war against Iran rages on.
Maciej Wewior announced through a graphic published on X on Tuesday: "9772 safe returns. Welcome home."
According to Wewior, there have been a total of 55 repatriation flights so far.
On Sunday, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that most Poles had been stuck in the United Arab Emirates, but about 1,000 of them were returning home on commercial flights every day, he added.
The United States and Israel launched a coordinated attack on Iran on February 28 in a bid to cripple the country's ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The first wave of the attacks killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior officials, while also targeting Iranian military, nuclear and governmental facilities. It did not take long for Tehran to retaliate by attacking Israel, US military bases in the neighbouring countries and regional US allies themselves. This caused a severe disruption in air operations, with airlines mass-cancelling flights to and from the region.
So far, the Polish taxpayers have covered the cost of repatriation flights organised by the government. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has been angered by the fact that many Poles have since ignored numerous warnings and advice against travelling to the Middle East.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski took to X on Tuesday to present a proposal aimed to stop free flights for such travellers.
"I am asking you to support a change in the law which would allow for charging a fee on returns to the country by government or military aircraft from places for which [the MFA had issued] warnings of danger," Sikorski wrote on X, attaching Border Guard data on trips to the Middle East since March 1, so after the conflict started.
The data show that 736 people, including 37 children below 15 years of age, have gone to the war-ravaged region since then. They included 97 people travelling to Qatar, 271 to Oman and 368 to the United Arab Emirates.
Sikorski concluded by expressing a hope that "they will not demand evacuation at the taxpayer's cost." (PAP)
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