Nicosia, Jun 16 (AP) Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos says Portugal and Slovakia will be bringing their citizens from the area of the Israeli-Iran conflict home through Cyprus.
The island nation is the nearest European Union country to Israel, lying just 268 km across the Mediterranean Sea.
Cyprus has acted as a transfer point for evacuees following the Oct 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas that led to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Moscow still not announcing plans to evacuate Russians from Israel and Iran
The Kremlin says Russia is ready to do “everything necessary” to resolve the “root causes” of the “dangerous escalation of tensions” between Iran and Israel.
Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters he was unaware if a decision had been made by Moscow to organize a full evacuation of its citizens from Israel and Iran.
“All agencies are monitoring the situation with the utmost care,” Peskov said.
Poland will evacuate around 200 of its citizens stranded in Israel
The evacuations will be overland to neighbouring Jordan and will take place within the next two days, according to a deputy foreign minister, Henryka Moscicka-Dendys.
She says there will be a bus convoy to Amman, the Jordanian capital, where evacuees — tourists and short-term visitors — will board a government plane to return home.
“Poland will be the first country to organise such an evacuation,” Moscicka-Dendys said, emphasising the move is precautionary and aims to avoid escalating tensions. No military escort is planned.
Putin and Erdogan condemn Israeli attacks on Iran
The Russian and Turkish presidents called for an immediate end to hostilities and the use of diplomatic means to settle contentious issues.
Both Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israeli attacks on Iran. They spoke in a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin said.
Russians urged to leave Israel
Speaking with Russian state media Monday, Russia's Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov reiterated Moscow's advice to Russian citizens to leave Israel if possible.
Viktorov said that Russian citizens could independently cross Israel's border with Egypt in order to catch commercial flights home. He also said that a wider, state-organised evacuation of citizens from Israel could be carried out “if necessary.”
“The threat that is being posed to the lives and health of both diplomats and Russian citizens in Israel is quite real,” he said.
Iran is on its own, analyst says
“Iran is battling it out alone,” said Lina Khatib, a Middle East expert at the Chatham House think tank in London.
Russia will not come to Iran's aid, Khatib told AP, pointing out that Russia did not help Iran last year when Israel destroyed Russian-supplied air defences or when Iran's ally, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was ousted.
Russia is likely to limit its support for Iran to “strongly worded statements” and will use the conflict to present itself as a mediator, Khatib said.
Turkey's Erdogan offers mediation
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a telephone call Monday that Turkey was ready to act as a “facilitator” for the resolution of the Israel-Iran conflict and resumption of the nuclear negotiations.
A statement from Erdogan office said Erdogan emphasised Turkey's commitment to peace and stability in the region.
The Turkish leader has been engaged in telephone diplomacy since Saturday in an effort to reduce tensions. It was Erdogan's second call with Pezeshkian since the outbreak of the conflict. (AP)
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