As hostilities in the Middle East intensify, escalating attacks have triggered widespread travel paralysis, leaving nations scrambling to devise evacuation strategies for stranded citizens.
Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest, was damaged in missile strikes. Blasts have also been reported in other major cities in the region, including Abu Dhabi and Doha.
A wide corridor of airspace over the Middle East was closed this weekend while neighboring countrie s restricted flights.
The ripple effects of this freeze is being felt far beyond the region’s borders, as foreign governments work to ensure the safety and repatriation of their nationals.
Thailand has announced it is “readying to evacuate its citizens from the Middle East by military or charter flights,” according to Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Approximately 110,000 Thai nationals currently reside in the region, including roughly 65,000 in Israel and about 250 in Iran.
Similarly, Pakistan said efforts are “underway to facilitate the safe return of Pakistanis through Azerbaijan,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The Cabinet Committee on Security in India said it has “directed all concerned departments to take necessary and feasible measures to assist Indian nationals affected by the developments” in a statement Monday.
Some context: The Middle East is home to a massive population of migrant workers, particularly from south and southeast Asia.
Countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines have millions of citizens living and working across Gulf states as well as in Israel and Jordan.
Patients were evacuated from a hospital in northern Tehran Sunday night after it was badly damaged in strikes, Iranian state media reported.
Footage posted by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB shows the damaged exterior of the Gandhi hospital in Tehran, with debris and glass strewn in the street.
An IRIB reporter said patients, including babies, were evacuated from the facility following the strike.
Two witnesses told Reuters news agency Sunday that Israeli strikes hit a hospital in Tehran’s Gandhi Street area, saying the hospital was badly damaged and patients were being taken out.
CNN cannot independently verify the reports.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said they were working to verify the incident.
“Reports of Tehran’s Gandhi Hospital being damaged during today’s bombardment of the Iranian capital are extremely worrying,” Tedros said in a post on X. “Health facilities are protected under international humanitarian law.”
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Iran’s Fars News Agency showcases underground drone arsenal in new propaganda video
00:52 • Source: CNN
Iran’s Fars News Agency showcases underground drone arsenal in new propaganda video
00:52
Iran has released video showing off what it said were Revolutionary Guard drone tunnels storing weapons used to hit US bases in the region.
Rows of drones can be seen lined up in an underground tunnel or packed onto rocket launchers in the video published by Iran’s state-affiliated Fars News Agency. The Iranian flag and pictures of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei adorn the walls.
Rockets and drones can also be seen being launched from several areas and firing at what Fars said was “US bases.”
The release of the highly-produced video is part of Iran’s propaganda push following the joint US-Israeli strikes on the country.
It is not clear when or where the footage was filmed, nor whether it shows drones and rockets being used in Iran’s retaliation to the joint US-Israelis strikes.
Israel has issued evacuation orders for 52 settlements across southern Lebanon and confirmed plans to target Hezbollah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it is striking targets after Hezbollah launched projectiles toward Israel early Monday.
“The Israeli Defense Forces do not wish to harm you,” LTC Ella Waweya said on X.
“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages by at least 1,000 meters to open areas. Anyone who is near Hezbollah fighters, facilities, or combat equipment is putting their life at risk.”
At least four villages have been struck so far, according to Lebanese state media.
Widescale evacuations due to Israeli military action are not uncommon in Lebanon, displacing thousands.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024, Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon, citing alleged Hezbollah violations—claims the group denies.
At least 10 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in Israel since it began military operations against Iran, according to Magen David Adom (MDA).
“Since the beginning of Operation ‘Roaring Lion,’ MDA teams have provided medical treatment and evacuated 238 casualties to hospitals,” it said in a statement. The numbers include “10 fatalities, 2 seriously injured, 5 moderately injured, and 221 mildly injured, of whom 175 were injured on their way to finding shelter,” it said.
Nine of the fatalities were reported from the city of Beit Shemesh, where a missile hit a bomb shelter.
The MDA said it provided medical treatment to a 102-year-old man who was injured on his way to a shelter. He was evacuated to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Video released by MDA showed plumes of smoke rising from a site, with medical and police vans and a fire truck parked nearby. In another video, workers can be seen at a site with destroyed buildings and piles of rubble.
This post has been updated.
President Donald Trump on Sunday drew a direct parallel between US actions in Venezuela and the current situation in Iran, saying the former offers a “perfect” example of how a change in leadership could play out amid questions about a transition of power after US and Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“What we did in Venezuela, I think, is the perfect, the perfect scenario,” Trump told The New York Times in a six-minute phone interview, referencing the US operation earlier this year in Venezuela that removed Nicolás Maduro from power.
“Everybody’s kept their job except for two people,” Trump added.
In contrast with the Maduro ouster, however, which left the rest of Venezuela’s government in tact, the president said earlier Sunday that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed during the ongoing strikes.
When asked whom he would like to see lead Iran, Trump told the Times, “I have three very good choices.” He added, “I won’t be revealing them now. Let’s get the job done first.”
Yet the president also floated a different possibility, according to the newspaper, that the Iranian people could move to replace their government.
“That’s going to be up to them about whether or not they do,” Trump said. “They’ve been talking about it for years so now they’ll obviously have an opportunity.”
The two visions underscore the uncertainty surrounding how the administration envisions Iran’s political future after the strikes.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said it is responding to a suspected drone strike at a British military base on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
“Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people,” a spokesperson told CNN.
The blast struck the Royal Air Force Akrotiri airbase at midnight local time and there were no casualties, they added. “This is a live situation and further information will be provided in due course.”
Cyprus’s government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on X that the strike “involved an unmanned drone which caused limited damage.”
Neither the UK or Cyprus statements said who they believed had launched the drone.
It comes after the UK boosted its military bases in Cyprus with enhanced defensive measures - including radar, counter-drone systems, F-35 jets and ground-based air defense - to support Middle East security and stability.
Any confirmed attack on a British military installation could become especially significant because under NATO Article 5, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
However the country would need to invoke Article 5 to get other NATO nations to join the fray.
Israel began striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after intercepting a projectile that was launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said early Monday morning.
Several projectiles fell in open areas in Israel and no injuries or damages were reported, the IDF said. Hezbollah has claimed responsibili ty.
Multiple drone sirens sounded in several areas of northern Israel.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization is operating on behalf of the Iranian regime, opening fire against the State of Israel and its civilians,” the IDF said.
“The IDF will operate against Hezbollah’s decision to join the campaign, and will not enable the organization to constitute a threat to the State of Israel and harm the civilians of northern Israel.”
Hezbollah had warned earlier on Sunday that it would “fulfill our duty in confronting the aggression” in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel mark the first rocket fire by the group since November 2024, when Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire.
Hezbollah said it launched “missiles and a swarm of drones” at an Israeli army base south of Haifa “in revenge” for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It marks the first rocket fire by the Iran-backed militant group since November 2024, when Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire.
The attack targeted Israel’s Mishmar HaCarmel missile-defense site at midnight Monday, Hezbollah said in a statement read on al-Manar TV.
Israel’s military said earlier it had intercepted a projectile fired from Lebanon, and that other fell in open areas.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the firing of rockets from southern Lebanon “an irresponsible and suspicious act.”
“We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures, and we will take all necessary measures to stop those responsible and protect the Lebanese people,” Salam said in a post on X.
