The Canadian Embassy is warning citizens to ‘book a flight to leave the country now,’ while also making contingency plans to evacuate those who remain in Lebanon
Michel Awad, 65, at his home in Broumana, Lebanon, on July 5. Behind him hangs a portrait of his granddaughter Alexandra, who was wounded in the Beirut port explosion in July 2020 and later succumbed to her wounds.Michel Awad has lived through Lebanon at its worst. But as war looms again, he believes it may soon be time to give up on this country for good.
In truth, there’s a war already happening just 100 kilometres south of Broumanna, in the hilly terrain of southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Daily exchanges of tank, artillery and missile fire have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.. Hezbollah replied by firing 220 missiles and drones into Israel on Thursday alone.
But the uncertain fate of those evacuees is one reason fears are rising that the war in Lebanon is set to escalate just as the heaviest fighting in Gaza looks to be winding down. While hopes for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas were rising this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already indicated that any troops withdrawn from Gaza could be redeployed to the Israel-Lebanon border.
This time, Canada is more prepared, even as the numbers are potentially bigger – and the what-if scenarios are far worse than in 2006. The war next door in Syria could pose additional challenges, with Lebanon hosting some 1.5 million refugees from that conflict. The possibility that desperate refugees could try to push their way onto any evacuation craft is another worry for planners.
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