Operation Sindhu: Iran opens restricted airspace exclusively for India amid war with Israel

Sheikh Afsa, who was on board an earlier flight carrying 110 nationals under Operation Sindhu, praised the Central government's efforts to ensure a safe evacuation from Iran upon returning to Delhi.

Tehran: Amid its escalating conflict with Israel, Iran has made a rare exception by opening its restricted airspace solely for Indian evacuation efforts. As part of Operation Sindhu, around 1,000 students stranded in conflict-affected regions of Iran are expected to be flown back to Delhi over the next two days. The first flight will land at 11:00 PM on June 20, while the second and third flights are scheduled for Saturday morning and evening. Iran has agreed to open an exclusive corridor for the evacuation of Indian nationals despite closing the airspace for other countries amid drone and missile attacks.

Meanwhile. students from Jammu and Kashmir, evacuated from war-torn Iran, thanked the Centre but criticised the J-K government for the poor-quality buses used to transport them from Delhi to their hometowns. Later, the buses were upgraded as per the direction of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. "We are tired after such a long journey. The central government and the Indian embassy did such a good job that we didn't feel any problem - it wasn't like we were being evacuated, as everything was so smooth," a student told ANI.

Sheikh Afsa, who was on board an earlier flight carrying 110 nationals under Operation Sindhu, praised the government's efforts to ensure a safe evacuation upon returning to Delhi, saying that the government evacuated them 'from their doors'.

"We are happy to return here, but we are also worried about our studies. The situation there (Iran) is bad, and people are scared. We even received calls from people in Iran, who said the situation in Iran is very critical. The (Indian) government evacuated us from our dormitory, from our doors; we didn't even expect this much. They helped us at every step; no one faced any problem, and we are grateful to the central government for the role they played in evacuating us," she told ANI. 

The Israeli Defence Forces shared that on Thursday night it targeted the missiles manufacturing sites in Iran by using approximately 120 munitions. The details were provided in a post on X. The IDF said, that over 60 fighter jets “struck dozens of military targets in Iran using approximately 120 munitions.”

(With inputs from ANI)