India has been steadily pulling hundreds of people out of Yemen over the last week, after the country's civil war turned into a regional battle. On Monday alone, India evacuated more than 1,000 people from Yemen, through a mix of flights by Air India and through Naval ships. All in all, the Ministry of External Affairs estimates that more than 3,300 Indians citizens, out of the 4,000 living in Yemen, have so far been evacuated.

But MEA's efforts to evacuate people from Yemen haven't just been confined to Indians. With India having set up a concerted effort using Naval ships and requesting airspace windows for flights out of Sana'a, a host of other nations have asked for help in getting their own citizens out of the war-torn nation as well. Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson for the MEA, tweeted out a list of the nations that have sent requests for help to India.


More than 200 citizens from other countries have so far been evacuated through India's efforts alongside the thousands of Indians, and, according to Akbaruddin, that list has been steadily growing on a daily basis. It doesn't hurt that India is well-schooled in the task of having to evacuate its citizens from dangerous areas.

India's success at doing this might be causing a little embarrassment elsewhere. US news channel CNN, reported on America's request for Indian help.

Dubbed Operation Raahat (relief), the evacuation effort should see nearly all Indian citizens out of the country by this week. India has been working with Saudi Arabia to fly out of the country, by negotiating windows of time even though the airspace has generally been turned into a no-fly zone. Meanwhile, five ships from the Indian Navy have been moving citizens from Yemen to Djibouti from where India has been flying them back to the country.

Even India and Pakistan, not always the most cordial of neighbours, have managed to work together in this evacuation effort. INS Sumitra has evacuated Pakistani nationals over the course of the effort, while a Pakistani Navy ship was also involved in rescuing Indians.


As with previous conflicts in the Middle East that included a number of Indian citizens caught in the crossfire, however, here too there have been Indians who would rather not return. Keralite nurses, burdened by debt, would rather not leave jobs that pay much better than what they would get back at home. But the violence is unlikely to end anytime soon, which is why India has been insistent on getting its citizens out.