So, what actually is Yemen evacuation?
The Indian Army has so far rescued over 4000 people from Yemen in Operation ‘Raahat’ among which there are 250 foreign nationals from 26 different nationalities.
Now what is Operation ‘Raahat’?
Operation ‘Raahat’ is the operation of the Indian army to evacuate the Indian citizens from Yemen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, deputed General V.K. Singh, the Minister of State and External Affairs and the former Chief of the Army Staff to Sana (Yemen) and Djibouti as the evacuees were taken from Yemen to Djibouti.
Airstrike in Yemen and why it was carried out?
Houthis, the Zaidi Shia committee, backed up by Iran took over the Hadi government in Yemen. Saudi Arabia, the United States and other countries condemned the Houthis for the illegal and unconstitutional echelon in the government. Therefore, on March 25, 2015, aided by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out a military intervention in Yemen named as ‘Operation Decisive Storm’ to remove the coup d’etat rule in Yemen.
Operation ‘Raahat’ and how it was administered?
So far, over 1,00,000 people have been displaced from Yemen with help of countries like India, Pakistan and China. Operation ‘Raahat’ is the evacuation mission led by the Indian Army with the involvement of General V.K. Singh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, personally spoke to Salman biz Abdulaziz Al Saud, the King of Saudi Arabia to make a safe passage for the Indians during the evacuation. Prime Minister’s Office has been monitoring the operation and the seamless co-operation between MEA, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Air India, shipping, railway and government officials, who have helped in the rescue work. General V.K. Singh flew to the ground zero for speed evacuation and has been camping in Djibuiti since March 31, 2015.
How many nations turned to India for help?
Syed Akbaruddin, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, said that over 26 countries requested India to help their nationals evacuate. So far, Indian army has deployed the nationals of the United States, Sri Lanka, Romania, Pakistan, Germany, Sweden, Russia and other countries. He further said that the evacuation efforts from Sana will end on April 8, 2015.
Michael Steiner, the German ambassador also thanked the Indian government and tweeted, “India helped evacuate also Germans out of Yemen. Thank you India!”
[“source-indiatoday.intoday.in”]
