Global Affairs Canada chartering more flights from Lebanon for Canadians this week

Global Affairs Canada says it’s chartering more flights from Lebanon this week to help Canadians leave the country as conflict escalates between Israel and Hezbollah.

In a statement Monday evening, the department says it has almost 600 seats available on planes leaving Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The foreign affairs minister’s office said earlier that a plane with 291 available seats was set to leave Lebanon on Monday, with 104 passengers confirmed at the time.

In just over a week, the federal government says it has helped more than 1,150 people leave Lebanon, including Canadians, permanent residents and immediate family members, and has offered departure options to more than 4,600 people.

The department, which has been urging people to flee Lebanon, says there are more than 25,000 Canadians registered as being in the country, though Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has said the tally could be closer to 45,000.

Monday marked the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel that sparked the now-widening conflict in the Middle East.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7.