The Spanish Air and Space Force has sent two planes to the Middle East to bring back to Spain those citizens who wish to leave Israel and Iran. According to information from the Ministry of Defense, this morning an A400M took off from Turkey to Armenia. At the same time, an A330 departed from the Torrejón Air Base to Jordan.
As learned by this newspaper, the first aircraft, which will land in Armenia shortly, has the capacity for about fifty people. This plane will be used to bring back to Spain the 40 citizens who were evacuated yesterday in a ground convoy from Tehran. The evacuation operation from Iran was coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Embassy and, as confirmed by José Manuel Albares, it concluded successfully late at night. At that time, the head of diplomacy already stated that he hoped they could "reunite with their families in the next few hours."
The second plane is an A330 with a capacity for 200 people currently heading towards Jordan. According to sources consulted by this newspaper, the difficulty in evacuating citizens at this time lies in the closure of the airspace of both Israel and Iran, requiring coordination of ground convoys to get citizens out of the countries. In fact, the Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv reported yesterday on the open land border crossings.
According to Foreign Affairs, the consular demarcation of the Embassy in Tel Aviv has 7,766 registered residents and 17 non-residents in the Consular Registration, while in the consular demarcation of the General Consulate of Spain in Jerusalem, there are 2,904 registered residents and 33 non-residents, although these numbers could be lower as some may have already left the country without notifying.
While the Air Force plane flies to Turkey, Portuguese authorities announced this morning the evacuation of several Portuguese citizens, as well as two Spaniards. According to the Secretary of State, Emidio Sousa, 122 people were evacuated from Israel to Egypt, and from there they flew to Cyprus, where they took flights to their respective countries.