OTTAWA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday urged Canadians to leave Lebanon, warning of the risk of escalating regional conflict between Israel and others, including Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah.
“We see that the risk of escalation is real,” he said at a press conference. “We’re encouraging and asking all Canadians to please leave Lebanon while there are commercial routes available.”
Tens of thousands of Canadians are believed to be living in the country, which has already seen Hezbollah trade near-daily fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas, the Palestinian armed group.
An Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut’s southern suburbs late last month killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, just hours before the assassination, blamed on Israel, of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
On Monday, the US government warned that Iran could launch a “significant attack” on Israel this week, in retaliation against the assassination in Tehran.
Canada issued an advisory in late June against travel to Lebanon, citing a “volatile and unpredictable” situation with the possibility of violence between Hezbollah and Israel flaring up without warning.
Its military is setting up emergency resources in Cyprus to evacuate its nationals from the region if commercial flights from Lebanon are halted.
Canadian PM urges citizens to leave Lebanon over risk of conflict
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Canadian PM urges citizens to leave Lebanon over risk of conflict
- Tens of thousands of Canadians are believed to be living in the country, which has already seen Hezbollah trade near-daily fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas
Israel army ‘temporarily suspends’ strike on south Lebanon
- The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it would “temporarily” suspend a strike planned for Saturday that was intended to target what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
A November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which broke out after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
But later Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the strike was temporarily suspended,” adding that the military “continues to monitor the target.”
The suspension came after the Lebanese army “requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement,” he said on X.
Adraee added that the military would “not allow” Hezbollah to “redeploy or rearm.”
The year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism includes the United Nations, the United States and France.
A Lebanese security source said the army had previously tried to search the building that the Israeli military wanted to target but could not because of objections from residents.
But the source told AFP that the Lebanese army was able to enter and search the building after returning a second time, because residents “felt threatened,” adding that they were evacuated over fears of a strike.
