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1,500 Russians Back Home from Middle East

(MENAFN) A mass repatriation effort is underway as thousands of Russian tourists remain stranded across the Middle East following widespread airspace closures triggered by the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran. Around 1,500 Russian travelers have already been flown home, with another 2,000 evacuations anticipated by end of day Tuesday, according to a leading tour operator in the region.

"About 1,500 have been repatriated, taking into account the flights that have already departed," Artur Muradyan, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia and CEO of Space Travel, a Russian tour operator, was quoted by a news agency as saying. "Today, probably about 2,000 will be repatriated if all flights take place."

The crisis was set in motion following the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran on Feb. 28, after which Russia's Transport Ministry reported that the airspace of 10 countries — including Israel, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Syria — was either fully or partially shut down, with flights suspended to and from nine of them.

The travel disruption has been severe. Over the weekend alone, Russian and foreign carriers canceled 216 flights, the majority of them operating on routes between Russia and the UAE. More than 10,000 flight tickets have since been refunded, official data confirmed.

The Russian Foreign Ministry identified the UAE as hosting the largest concentration of stranded organized Russian tourists, with more than 20,000 still in the country. An additional 500-plus Russian travelers remain scattered across Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait combined.

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