The federal government has reserved about 900 additional seats on commercial flights out of Lebanon through Sunday to get Canadian citizens out of the country, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says.
“I want to make sure that you are brought to safety, and please take the seat,” Joly told reporters in Paris on the sidelines of the Francophonie summit., speaking directly to Canadians in Lebanon.
“At this point, not all seats are being taken.”
About 650 seats were reserved for Canadian citizens on two flights from Beirut to Istanbul on Thursday, but Global Affairs Canada said those flights left with only 275 passengers in total — including nationals from other countries such as the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Denmark.
More than 340 Canadians left on government-reserved flights earlier this week.
Nearly 900 more reserved seats are spread out across one flight per day between Friday and Sunday, Joly said.
The government is offering the seats to Canadians in Lebanon who have filled out an intake form requesting departure information. More than 5,000 have filled out that form, Global Affairs Canada said Thursday, and 2,300 of those have received offers of seats.
Canada has been urging citizens and permanent residents to leave Lebanon by commercial means as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.
Joly noted Beirut is also becoming more dangerous, pointing to a strike in the centre of the capital Thursday that killed at least nine people. The Israeli military also extended evacuation orders beyond a southern border zone the same day, signaling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week.
The reservations are meant to ensure Canadians get a seat as demand for commercial flights skyrockets. Global Affairs Canada on Thursday said regular flights out of Beirut have been reduced by half, but there are still between 50 and 80 flights leaving daily.
The government has yet to order a military evacuation, despite other countries doing so, although the Canadian Armed Forces has been preparing for such an action.
Canadian military assets and troops have been pre-positioned in Cyprus, an island nation off the coast of Lebanon, for weeks. Global News has learned more personnel are on the way from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
Tents have been erected in the Port of Larnaca to process the potential mass exodus of thousands of foreign nationals set to arrive in simultaneous military evacuations by up to 10 countries — including Canada, France, Australia and Britain.
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Cyprus previously served as a hub for foreign evacuees during the 2006 Lebanon War, taking in 60,000 people.
Sources have told Global News the pre-positioning of assets was done to prepare for a potentially chaotic evacuation operation, with multiple countries set to try and get their people out at the same time with limited space.
Greece, the Netherlands and China, among other countries, have already evacuated their citizens out of Lebanon. Spain plans to send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 citizens this week, Reuters reported.
The G7 on Thursday issued a statement on the escalating situation in the Middle East and called for “a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible to create space for a diplomatic solution” in Lebanon. It also reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Canadians voice frustration
News of additional commercial flights comes amid criticism from some Canadians of how the government has handled its offers of seats and overall communication during the crisis in Lebanon.
Global Affairs Canada says it needs to vet all requests for departure information for admissibility into Canada before offering seats. It has committed to responding to all requests in the coming days.
That process is taking too long, Ammar Hussein told Global News — and is putting his mother and uncle, both Canadian citizens stuck in Lebanon, at risk.
“It’s very stressful and it’s frustrating,” the Ontario man said.
Global News is not identifying Hussein’s mother and uncle or where they are currently located in Lebanon out of concern for their safety.
Hussein said his mother and uncle registered with Canada’s Registration of Canadians Abroad system close to two weeks ago to get updates on departures and consular services. He signed up too on his mother’s behalf just to ensure someone in the family could be contacted, and the family has filled out the request form for departure information.
Since then, he says Global Affairs Canada has not reached out, and Hussein is unable to get anyone on the phone.
Hussein said it was especially frustrating to hear Joly and other government officials suggest this week that some people are declining offers of seats.
“Israel is beheading Lebanese infrastructure, so people are without cellphone service, Wi-Fi, data. They’re travelling through dangerous places,” Hussein said.
Global Affairs Canada says they will continue to offer seats to people they either can’t reach or decline their initial offers of seats.
Getting to the airport in Beirut amid the chaos created by mounting Israeli strikes and ground incursions is also a challenge for those trying to escape. The government says those offered a seat on a flight must be ready to leave within 24 hours, but it is not helping people get to the airport.
“You can’t just shoot an email to an 80-year-old woman in the early morning hours and expect that she’s going to be able to navigate the streets of a war zone,” Hussein said.
“It would be nice if there was some communication with Canadians, to give them a timeline for when they might expect to be removed so that families can prepare to leave their areas.”
Another Canadian citizen trying to leave Lebanon, Ferial El Kadri, is facing a different issue: her husband and son do not have Canadian citizenship.
“I won’t leave without my husband and son,” she told Global News from Kherbet Rouha.
El Kadri’s son was born before Canada introduced legislation this year that will extend citizenship by descent to those beyond first generation.
Like Hussein, she has had no luck getting a hold of Global Affairs Canada to try and get temporary visa status for her family. She also hasn’t been offered a seat on flights out of Lebanon by the government.
“We can’t risk staying here and just waiting for someone to call us,” she said.
Global Affairs Canada referred questions about El Kadri’s case to a media briefing Wednesday which focused on the government’s commercial departures, and did not address issues of citizenship or temporary visas.
Hussein says the time is now to do as much as necessary to get Canadians out.
“There’s concern that the war will expand (beyond southern Lebanon) and (my family will) be in great danger if the Canadian government doesn’t do more to get Canadians out sooner,” he said.
“There’s no urgency.”
— with files from Global’s Mercedes Stephenson and Nathaniel Dove