Japan's Mideast evacuations of citizens one of its largest such operations

TOKYO - Japan's evacuations of its citizens and their family members from the war-hit Middle East has become one of the country's largest operations of its kind, exceeding the 2020 evacuation from China's Wuhan, where the COVID-19 outbreak was first detected.

Since the United States and Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Iran on Feb. 28, a total of 836 people have returned to Japan on four government-chartered flights, compared with the 828 who evacuated Wuhan.