Ship, extra CAF members deployed near Lebanon in case of evacuation needs: defence minister

Defence Minister Bill Blair says there is a ship in place near Lebanon, as well as 150 deployed additional Canadian Armed Forces members prepared for a military-assisted departure of stranded Canadians, if more violence in the region requires it.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is also working on "another commercial option with a charter aircraft" in the next couple days, Blair said.

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"It's a scalable response that we are putting in place," Blair said in an interview with CTV's Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, airing Sunday. "We know that some people may just need some assistance to get to a place of egress, an airport or a port, and we are prepared to provide military-assisted departure."

Further escalation in the conflict between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah is raising fears of an expanded war in the region, with U.S. President Joe Biden telling the United Nations on Tuesday that "full-scale war is not in anyone's interest."

But calls for a ceasefire do not appear to be breaking through, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also telling the United Nations on Friday that Israel will continue to hit Hezbollah with full force.

Canadian officials have raised concerns about the risk of escalation, and for months have been urging the estimated 45,000 Canadians in Lebanon to leave while commercial flights are still available.

When asked by Kapelos whether GAC has the capacity to evacuate the 20,000 Canadians currently registered with the department from the country, Blair said "yes."

"But I think it's going to be important to respond to the circumstances that may exist at that time," he added. "First of all, we don't believe that an incursion by Israel into Lebanon is imminent, but we are certainly concerned with the escalating violence that we're seeing in the region, and the indicators are concerning to us."

The defence minister said Canadian officials have been working "for months" to get the right resources in place for such an evacuation. But, he also said, Canadians currently in Lebanon should do the "prudent" thing and leave now, in the event the situation "deteriorate(s) very significantly and very quickly."

"I think the focus right now is still on working behind the scenes to try to facilitate a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities," Blair said. "But we have been getting ready for some time to provide whatever assistance Canadians may require."

The Canadian government last evacuated approximately 14,370 citizens out of Lebanon in July 2006, also amid fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. But the government faced criticism at the time for long response times and delays with the evacuations.

Now, Blair said the additional ship and CAF members are readied to ensure a more effective evacuation process.

"And that's not just in Lebanon, but also in Cyprus and other parts of the region, because we also have to not just assist Canadians to get out of Lebanon, but we have to make sure that we can get them to a place of safety, and then facilitate their onward movement, wherever they may wish to go."

"To be really clear, we all learned a great deal of lessons from the experience of 2006," Blair also said. "All of those lessons have been applied to our planning and preparation for the possibility of this event."

With files from CTV News' Brennan MacDonald and Stephanie Ha