(Ottawa) The Canadian government will not begin evacuating its nationals from Lebanon until commercial flights are available, but repatriation plans are ready if necessary, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said.
The easiest way to leave the country, where hundreds of people have died since the beginning of the week, is to go to Beirut airport, argued Canada’s top diplomat during a press briefing in the foyer of the House of Commons on Wednesday.
“If the airports are no longer functional, this eliminates the possibility of an air evacuation. This is why we must leave by air immediately,” argued Minister Joly.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly
All the more so since there is a major difference between the (chaotic) rescue operation of 2006 and the one that may have to be set in motion: the port of the Lebanese capital was the scene of a major explosion in 2020, which would complicate any evacuation, she argued.
Minister Joly offered her condolences to the families and loved ones of the two Canadian nationals who died in Lebanon in circumstances that have not been specified. In addition to these two victims, three Canadian nationals were injured.
As the Israeli government raises the possibility of a ground operation in Lebanon, she urged the Jewish state and Hezbollah to de-escalate, as did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a brief press scrum.