KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — A further 179 Malaysians arrived safely in the country from Doha, Qatar, early today under the Operation to Evacuate Malaysians from the West Asia Conflict Zone.

Bernama understands that the Malaysians were brought home on Qatar Airways flight QR852, the first Doha–Kuala Lumpur service after airspace was closed on Feb 28, 2026.

The total includes 59 Malaysians who had been stranded, as well as Malaysian residents in Qatar who had purchased their own flight tickets.

There were also Filipino, Australian and other nationals on board who will take connecting flights to their respective countries after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

A check on a flight-tracking portal showed that the aircraft landed safely at KLIA at 12.46am.

The Malaysian government had earlier successfully carried out its first evacuation operation to bring home Malaysians stranded in several West Asian countries via a special Malaysia Airlines flight.

The special flight departed Kuala Lumpur for Jeddah on Tuesday (March 10) and arrived safely at KLIA at 12.48pm on Wednesday (March 11).

In a statement, the National Security Council (NSC) said a total of 170 people were successfully brought home through the first operation.

They comprised Malaysians in Jeddah and Madinah (133 people), as well as several who had been relocated from other countries in the region, including Qatar (34 people), Syria (two people) and Jordan (one person).

The flight also carried five Thai nationals, one Indonesian national and one Moroccan national who are family members of the Malaysians involved.

The evacuation operation was coordinated by the NSC under the Prime Minister’s Department, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Malaysia’s missions in Jeddah, Doha and Amman.

Malaysian missions on the ground assisted in coordinating the movement of affected Malaysians, including overland transfers from several locations in the region to airports to enable them to board flights home. — Bernama