- State Department says over 28,000 Americans evacuated from Middle East.
- Evacuations conducted through charter flights and ground transport operations.
- Task force assisted more than 16,000 Americans overseas with guidance.
- U.S. urges citizens in several Gulf countries to request assistance.
The U.S. State Department announced that more than 28,000 American citizens have already returned to their homeland since late February, meaning that the United States has focused its massive evacuation and aid operation in the Middle East.
Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson said in a statement that the government has been organizing flights and ground transport, as well as emergency aid to help Americans evacuate places plagued by increased security issues.
Johnson stated that over 28,000 American citizens had been safely returning to the United States of America since February 28 by the time in the Middle East.
He pointed out that it does not tally the amount of Americans that have moved to other countries in the region, or the ones who are still in transit back to the United States.
The statement did not include the numerous Americans who have safely moved to other nations or those who had left Middle East but who were still in transit back to US.
Charter Flights and emergency transport
The State Department explained that it had chartered special flights on charter flights to help citizens who had decided to fly out of affected countries due to instability.
Johnson also added that the Department of State has already made over a dozen charter flights, and evacuated thousands of Americans in the Middle East, excluding it being a safe operation.
Authorities indicated that people are still on the move as commercial airline services slowly resume operations in certain areas within the region.
The statement said that the commercial flight availability in the region remains on the increase, but the Department of State charter flight and ground transport operation has increased and is still increasing due to the remains of security problems.
The emergency response task force in the department is also mobilizing requests of assistance of Americans in various countries in the Middle East.
Johnson stated that through the 24/7 Task Force of the State Department, over 16,000 Americans have been directly helped in overseas locations, with security advice and travel guidance.
Support Channels to Americans abroad
The U.S. officials called on American citizens in some countries who require assistance getting out of the region to get in touch with the department via its crisis assistance system.
The statement said that American citizens in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel, in need of travel assistance ought to fill in the Crisis Intake Form.
This was also stated by the State Department which said that Americans are able to call its emergency hotline to seek assistance.
It further added that Americans in the Middle East in need could call on 24/7 the US Department of state, +1-202-501-4444.
The government officials claimed that evacuation and assistance efforts will continue as long as citizens need them. Johnson said that the State Department would actively help any American citizen who desired to leave the Middle East to do so.
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The move is done as tension in the region has been increasing in the last few weeks necessitating the U.S. government to revise its travel advisories, and to advise Americans to look at the security situation before traveling to some countries within the region.
