Hundreds flee into Azerbaijan and Armenia from Iran

By Nailia Bagirova

BAKU (Reuters) -More than 600 people of 17 nationalities have fled into Azerbaijan from Iran in the five days since the start of the air war between Israel and Iran, an Azerbaijani source with knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday.

Armenian news agency Armenpress reported separately that India has evacuated 110 of its nationals from Iran via Armenia.

The flight from Iran has been prompted by surprise attacks that Israel began last Friday, to which Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump warned residents of Tehran on Monday to evacuate immediately.

From Tehran to the crossing into Azerbaijan is a road journey of about eight hours, while reaching the Armenian border takes over 10 hours.

Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizadeh said more than 1,200 citizens from 51 countries had requested permission to cross from Iran into Azerbaijan.

He declined to say how many had already done so, but the Azerbaijani source put the number at more than 600. The source said they came from Russia, the United States, Germany, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Portugal, China, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Azerbaijan has kept land borders closed since the COVID-19 pandemic, but it allowed the foreigners to enter via a "humanitarian corridor" crossing at Astara in its southeast corner.

The source said people were being taken by bus to the capital Baku to catch flights to home countries.

'BIG QUEUES'

A man from the United States, who did not give his name, told Azerbaijani state TV: "There are long lines at gas stations and a fuel shortage. Everywhere you go, there are big queues – it's very frightening. I still can't believe I managed to cross the border."

Nazim Beishekeyev, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, said he was one of 28 people from the Central Asian state who entered Azerbaijan after queuing for eight hours at the border. He thanked the authorities for providing food and medical help.

An Azerbaijani news agency, Report, said 26 Chinese nationals had crossed.

The Kremlin thanked Azerbaijan on Tuesday for helping Russian citizens leave Iran.

"Our Azerbaijani friends are providing all the most favourable conditions, for which we are very grateful to them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Felix Light in Tbilisi, Writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Gareth Jones)