Middle East War: Over 52,000 Indians travelled safely from Gulf region between March 1-7, says MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday shared an update on the evolving situation in West Asia and the Gulf region noting that more than 52000 Indians travelled safely from Gulf region to India between March 17 2026 and that a dedicated special control room has been set up to monitor and respond to queries from those affectedIn an official press statement the MEA said that the Government of India is continuously monitoring the evolving situation in West Asia and the Gulf region especially with regard to the welfare of Indian nationals who have been stranded there during transit or on shortduration visitsAll Indian nationals in the region are advised to follow the guidelines of the local authorities as well as the advisories being issued by the Indian Embassy or Consulate in their location Each of our Embassies and Consulates in these countries have issued detailed advisories and set up 24x7 Helplines that are assisting in addressing concerns on account of the ongoing situation the statement saidIt further added The Ministry of External Affairs has also set up a dedicated Special Control Room to monitor and respond to queries from those affected as well as their familiesComplete details of all our Helplines are available at Special_Control_Room_in_MEAThe statement noted that following the partial opening of airspace across the region in the last few days Indian and foreign airlines are operating commercial flights including nonscheduled flights to enable the return of Indian passengers who were in transit or on shortterm visits in these countriesBy now more than 52000 Indians have availed of these flights and travelled safely from the Gulf region to India between March 17 2026 32107 of whom have travelled on Indian carriers More flights are planned in the coming days MEA addedIt further noted that in those countries where commercial flight operations are unavailable Indian nationals are advised to contact the concerned EmbassyConsulate for information and advice regarding the nearest available commercial flight optionsThe MEA underlined that the safety and welfare of Indian nationals abroad is of utmost priority to the Government which remains engaged with the Governments across the region to work towards facilitating all those in need of assistanceMeanwhile the theatre of war has seen no relenting A wave of Israeli airstrikes in Tehran and central Iran on Friday night targeted several key Iranian military sites including an underground ballistic missile factory and a military academy the IDF saidAccording to the Israeli military more than 80 Israeli Air Force fighter jets dropped 230 bombs on the targets during the strikes Among the targets was a subterranean site for the storage and production of ballistic missiles from which hundreds of soldiers from the armed forces of the Iranian terror regime operated the IDF saidCountering that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps IRGC announced that on Friday night it had launched the 23rd wave of Operation True Promise 4 highlighting the deployment of newgeneration missile systems against targets in the occupied territories and US bases across the region According to the statement the latest wave involved advanced missile systems designed to strike multiple targetsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever