The Government of India has launched Operation Raahat, a massive air and sea operation to evacuate over 4000 Indian nationals from Yemen. The operation will involve total of five ships and four aircraft. The Operation Raahat was launched to make sure that Indian nationals are not harmed in the military operation that was started in Yemen in last week of March 2015 against the Houthi Rebels by Saudi Arabia and 10 other countries.

The operation started after India got permission to dock its offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra at the Aden harbor of Yemen. In the evacuation exercise, 350 Indian nationals were evacuated from Aden to Djibouti by INS Sumitra. The nationals will be flown to India in two Air Force C-17 Globemasters. The complete rescue operation was overseen by Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd.) VK Singh.

In addition to INS Sumitra, Destroyer INS Mumbai, stealth frigate INS Tarkash, and two merchant vessels – Kavaratti and Coral – have been dispatched for the rescue operation. This is the fourth major evacuation which the Indian government has undertaken. The first three were in Ukraine, Iraq and Libya.

Tidbits

1. The Houthis are the sincere followers of the Shia Zaidi sect. They are known as Ansarallah (The Supporter of God).
2. The logo of Houthi states “God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam“.
3. The Houthis control the Yemeni capital Sana’a and also the Parliament.
4. The Headquarters of this group is Sa’dah, Yemen.
5. The Areas of Operations are North Yemen and South Western Saudi Arabia.
6. The Currency of Yemen is Yemeni Rial.