A TOTAL of 164 Malaysians stranded across several West Asian conflict areas are scheduled to arrive home on Wednesday as part of a government-led evacuation mission prompted by rising regional tensions.
The group, travelling on a specially chartered aircraft operated by Malaysia Airlines, also includes five Thai nationals who are family members of affected Malaysians and one Indonesian citizen. All 170 passengers are expected to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 11am on Wednesday.
Fauzan Amin Misnon, chief assistant director of the National Crisis Management Division at the National Security Council Malaysia, said those evacuated were brought home from four locations: Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, as well as Syria, Jordan and Doha in Qatar.
"The process of bringing them home went smoothly thanks to close cooperation with Malaysia’s diplomatic mission in Jeddah," he said.
"All of them returned voluntarily after registering through the online system provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Fauzan, who is also involved in the government’s evacuation operation for Malaysians from the West Asia conflict zone, said all passengers were generally in good condition, although two individuals required special attention due to health issues.
The evacuation mission was carried out following instructions from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who ordered that all necessary measures be taken swiftly to safeguard the safety and welfare of Malaysians in the affected region.
Earlier, the Airbus A330-300 used for the mission landed safely at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah at 8.35pm local time and was given only a short window to board passengers.
The National Security Council coordinated the operation in close collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Malaysian diplomatic missions in the relevant countries.
The flight also carried journalists and photographers from the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) as well as a cameraman from Radio Televisyen Malaysia.
Tensions in West Asia have escalated since 28 February following strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran, which were followed by retaliatory attacks by Tehran against American interests in Gulf states. - March 11, 2026
