The Press in Lebanon | “I don’t see myself leaving”

Canada has called on its nationals in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial flights are still available. But in the Canadian-Lebanese community which numbers 45,000 to 50,000 people according to Ottawa, the idea does not seem to be gaining ground.

(Beirut, Lebanon) From her vast apartment in the Achrafieh district of Beirut, Nathalie, in her sixties, slowly examines the pages of an old photo album: winters under the snow with her family, happy summers at Mount Royal Park in Montreal. Nathalie, who preferred to withhold her last name, obtained Canadian nationality in 1990, after leaving Lebanon during the war (1975-1990). She lived there for a few years with her husband, one of their two sons was born there, before they resettled in Lebanon.

“For me to make the decision to leave, the bombs would have to start falling in my neighborhood. Even though I have a strong connection to Canada, this is my home”, explains the one whose two sons live in Canada.

Like her country, Nathalie has weathered many storms in recent years. Following the economic crisis of 2019, she lost her life savings, blocked in the bank and whose value was divided by 10 following the devaluation of the Lebanese pound. The following year, his apartment overlooking the harbor was blown away by the August 4 explosion.

Since October 7 and the Hamas attack in Israel, the fear that the conflict will spill over to the country’s southern border has been on everyone’s lips. Bombings on each side of the border are daily there between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia supported by Iran. In three weeks, it deplored 52 victims in its ranks. There are 70 of them including civilians in Lebanon.

This escalation caused a wave of departures among expatriates in Lebanon and recommendations for the evacuation of several embassies. Canada first advised its citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon, before urging its nationals to leave the country as long as commercial flights are maintained.

Lebanon has 17,000 Canadian citizens, the vast majority of whom are dual nationals. “As registration for the service is voluntary, it is likely that this figure does not correspond to the total number of Canadians in Lebanon,” indicates Global Affairs Canada, however, suggesting that there could be many more.

Most dual nationals were naturalized during the Lebanese war (1975-1990), then during the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. In all, 101,882 Lebanese obtained a Canadian residence permit between 1975 and 2006, the data indicates from Statistics Canada. As early as 1976, Canada – and Australia – implemented special programs allowing Lebanese to obtain entry visas into the country for humanitarian reasons. A large number of them returned to Lebanon as soon as the war ended.

“My life is here, my family too”

Fatima Elie Eljamal scrolls on his phone his exchanges with his mother. “She worries, of course, but she trusts me. I keep her informed of the situation every day. » This young Lebanese-Canadian photographer, aged 30, spent most of her life in Canada, before choosing to return to her Lebanese roots a few years ago. After careful consideration, she will not return to Canada.

In a café in the Jal el Dib district, in the north of the city, Tarek Zard makes phone calls while puffing on a hookah. It is preparing to launch a new mobile application in the coming days. Business has not stopped. “In Lebanon, we are used to this kind of uncertainty, it is a country where there are always ups and downs, but whatever happens, people move forward. Do you know many countries that had to go through COVID, an economic crisis, the explosion of the port of Beirut and a war on its border in the space of four years? »

He was born in Canada and lived there during his studies, between 2003 and 2009. “I am aware that in Lebanon, having several nationalities is an opportunity. But I don’t see myself leaving in the current circumstances. My life is here, my family too,” explains this father, whose two children have triple Canadian, French and Lebanese nationality.

Flee, but how?

With the border with Israel closed and that with Syria perilous, there is only the sea to escape the country if the airport is bombed. In 2006, considerable efforts were made to exfiltrate foreign nationals. The Canadian government evacuated 14,039 people from Lebanon by sea to Cyprus and Turkey using 35 ships in what then-Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay called “a by far, the largest operation […] never organized or attempted in the history of Canada.

With fears of such a scenario repeating itself, arrangements have already been made. A operational force headquarters based in Cyprus has been established, from which Canadian Armed Forces planners and liaison staff work with Global Affairs Canada to ensure the security of Canadians in the region.

“There are currently more than 300 members of the FAC [Forces armées canadiennes] deployed to support this effort, in addition to AMC staff [Affaires mondiales Canada]from IRCC [Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada] and the CBSA [Agence des services frontaliers du Canada]. This includes the CC-150 Polaris aircraft which supported departures from Israel and which will remain in the region,” explains the Canadian National Defense side.