The US is taking "historic action" to assist American citizens, with a US government charter flight bringing US citizens from the Middle East to the United States and additional flights were being arranged for locations across the region, the US State Department announced on Wednesday.
The State Department did not provide any further details on transportation operations, but urged US citizens in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel who may be interested in the charter flights to complete a crisis form on the State Department's website.
The charter flights were announced on Tuesday, when the State Department said it would facilitate flights from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan for US citizens. The Department was also actively helping US citizens book tickets on commercial airlines in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Egypt, according to a released statement.
Over 17,500 citizens returned to US, Trump administration says
As of Wednesday, over 17,500 US citizens had returned from the Middle East to the US, with over 8,500 of those returning in the past day, the State Department said, adding that "many more" had left to other countries in Europe and Asia, and others are still in transit back to the US.
The State Department has a 24/7 Task Force offering security guidance and travel assistance to US citizens stuck abroad.
Canada arranges evacuations for citizens in the Middle East
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said the government was arranging a limited number of charter flights to evacuate Canadian citizens from the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Anand said that of the 106,000 Canadians in the region, over 2,000 have reached out to the government for help in leaving.
UK government repatriation flight to leave Oman delayed
The first British government-chartered flight arranged for UK nationals to leave the region after the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East did not take off as scheduled, Sky News reported on Thursday.