Canada plans to evacuate 20,000 nationals from Lebanon

TRENTON, Canada

Canada has emergency rescue plans in place to evacuate 20,000 of its nationals if war breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Canada’s head military commander said in a report published Thursday.

But Gen. Wayne Eyre said Canada cannot manage the herculean task by itself.

“We can't do it alone,” Eyre said Wednesday during an interview with CBC News. “It will very much be a coalition effort, and we are tightly tied in — very tight — with our allies.”

Eyre’s remarks came one day after Foreign Minister Melanie Joly sounded the alarm for Canadians to get out of Lebanon as soon as possible while commercial flights are still available. She also advised against travel to the country.

Following a recent “tense conversation” between Joly and her Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, about the deteriorating situation in Lebanon, the National Post reported that Israeli media said 45,000 Canadians might have to be evacuated.

Global Affairs Canada is in charge of any evacuation and it did not confirm the figure, the Nationl Post reported. But it is Eyre and allied military leaders who must carry out the evacuation, They met Tuesday and the Canadian commander stuck to his guns.

“The figure that we are looking at is somewhere just over 20,000 based on … what we did in 2006,” he said.

During the meeting, Eyre and the other commanders discussed how the evacuations could be safely enacted.

In July 2006, almost 15,000, predominately Canadians, were evacuated during a 14-day period when war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah was listed as a terror organization by Canada in 2006.

Tensions have risen along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv pressed ahead with its deadly offensive against the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 37,700 victims since October following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

The Israeli army said it has plans to mount an offensive against Hezbollah and was waiting for government approval to strike, CBC News reported.