OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says close to 45,000 Canadians are in Lebanon, months after warning there is no guarantee Ottawa can evacuate them if the situation deteriorates further.
She is also expressing concern that attacks like exploding pagers are only making the situation worse.
"My message to Canadians who even think of going to Lebanon is don't go, and I've been saying that for months," she told reporters Friday in Toronto.
Since the brutal Hamas attack on Israel last October prompted Israel to bomb Gaza, Hezbollah militants have been shooting rockets at northern Israel. That has caused communities near the border to evacuate, and Israel to strike both civilian and Hezbollah infrastructure.
By late last October, Joly started urging Canadians to leave Lebanon, saying that the military was assessing how to conduct a possible evacuation of citizens if needed.
The government has never been clear on how many people may need to be evacuated, only stating the number of individuals who had proactively registered with Global Affairs Canada. That stood at around 21,400 people in late July, with Ottawa cautioning many have not registered.
At that point, Joly had warned that "the situation on the ground may not allow us to help you" if things get worse. On Friday, she specified how many people could end up trapped.
"We know that we have around 45,000 Canadians in Lebanon," she said.
"We need to make sure that message (to leave) is clear, that it is also well-followed by Canadians. And we need to make sure, also, that we're well prepared."
Joly said suffering in all parts of the region needs to end.
"We are very concerned for what is happening in Lebanon and of course, in the wider Middle East," she said.
Joly noted escalating violence in Lebanon including the deadly attacks, widely attributed to Israel and said to have targeted Hezbollah militants, which involved exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.
The Associated Press reported that the pager attack killed at least 12 people — including two young children — and wounded thousands more.
"Notwithstanding any form of tactics or different strategies, at the end of the day we need this war to end," Joly said Friday.
Her statement follows a social-media statement by Global Affairs Canada late Wednesday that drew criticism from Israel advocates.
"We are gravely concerned about the reports that civilians, including children, have been killed or injured," the department wrote, following the pager explosions. "Canada is calling on all sides to avoid further escalations of violence and to protect civilians."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
