Ottawa warns more than 20,000 Canadians there is no guarantee of evacuation from Lebanon – Canada News

Global Affairs Canada is warning more than 20,000 Canadians in Lebanon that they cannot rely on government evacuation flights if war breaks out in the country.

According to the ministry, 21,399 Canadians have officially registered in Lebanon, but it expects many more to be in the country.

Canada has for months urged people to leave Lebanon and not travel there, though diaspora groups say many have continued with their travel plans, including visits to family. Peer countries that had not yet ordered their citizens to leave have done so in recent weeks, as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon rise.

Canada has been planning a possible evacuation of its citizens since October last year, sending military personnel to Lebanon and Cyprus in preparation. But Canada warns that evacuations are not always possible.

On Wednesday, the government again urged the Canadians to leave Lebanon immediately.

“Some airlines have already temporarily suspended their service to Beirut. Further travel disruptions are likely, including airspace closures and flight cancellations and diversions,” X said.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly also placed a warning on X, saying that Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are in Canada and are considering visiting Lebanon should not go, and that those currently in Lebanon should come back.

“If tensions escalate, the situation on the ground may not allow us to assist you and you may not be able to leave. Plan accordingly,” Joly said.

According to Lebanese-Montrealer Lamia Charlebois, many Canadians in Lebanon are having to choose between staying in the country and caring for their elderly parents, or flying back to Canada early with their children for the start of the school year.

“We are torn … between the mother country and the adoptive country, the parents and the children. That is the problem,” said Charlebois, who runs a Facebook group with more than 13,000 members dedicated to helping Lebanese newcomers to Montreal.

“It’s always the same dilemma. Do you wait and see? Do you stay with your family, take care of your parents, wait and risk getting stuck or do you run away now, leaving your parents under the bombs?”

On Tuesday, Israel carried out a rare attack on the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing a top Hezbollah commander it said was responsible for a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 youths in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The Israeli attack killed at least one woman and two children and injured dozens of people.

When Lebanese-Canadians visit Lebanon, they often don’t do so for leisure, Charlebois said. But their concerns about the country have only increased since Oct. 7, as many Lebanese feel trapped in the war between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Natasha Feghali, 28, a Canadian-Lebanese activist and educator based in Windsor, Ont., has family members in Lebanon, including relatives from Canada who are visiting the Middle Eastern country. She said she has grown increasingly concerned about them as tensions rise.

“People I know who are on vacation have already booked tickets to leave early,” she said.

Feghali said summer is normally the peak season for Lebanese Canadians to visit Lebanon. She said she is particularly concerned about family members who do not have dual citizenship and have no other option but to stay if conditions worsen.

“I hope that doesn’t happen,” she said of a full-scale war. “And I’m very concerned if it does, where would they go?”

Global Affairs Canada said in a statement: “There is never a guarantee that the Government of Canada will evacuate Canadians in a crisis situation.”

“Canadians should not rely on the Canadian government for assisted departure or evacuation. Government-assisted evacuations from a foreign country are a last resort, when all means of personal and commercial transportation have been exhausted and the safety and security of its citizens are at risk.”

Canada recently deployed military aircraft to ferry citizens from crisis-hit Israel and Sudan to nearby countries, where they could pay to board commercial flights home.