Passengers whose flights were cancelled, wait at the departure terminal of Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut.Hassan Ammar/The Associated Press
Ottawa is arranging charter flights and booking hundreds more seats on commercial airlines to help 2,000 Canadians stranded in Middle East and Gulf states who have asked the federal Government for help to leave the region.
At a press conference in Ottawa on Wednesday evening, foreign affairs minister Anita Anand said she expects charter flights to leave to UAE in the next 72 hours.
A further 200 seats on commercial flights have been block booked to help Canadians in Lebanon flee the country in the next three days.
On Wednesday, a flight left Beirut with 75 seats booked by the federal government for Canadians, most of which were filled. She said spare seats were offered by Canada to Britain and Australia in a reciprocal agreement to help each others citizens evacuate the middle east.
In Qatar, where the airspace is closed, Canadians were being bussed to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, with more land transportation being planned in the coming days.
The foreign affairs minister said that out of about 9,000 Canadians resident in Qatar, 237 had asked for government help leaving the country.
Ms Anand said 106,000 Canadians have registered with Global Affairs in the Middle East and Gulf States with 2035 asking Global Affairs for assistance to leave.
But she cautioned that using roads in the region may prove more dangerous than remaining in hotel rooms, including because of falling debris, and said sheltering in place was still the advice being offered as violence continues.
Canada is unable to provide flights or land transportation for Canadians in Iran where communications including internet are extremely limited.
Since 2012 Canada has had no embassy in the country and diplomatic relations have been suspended.
But Canada has posted consular officials at the borders with neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Armenia, to help Canadians crossing the borders obtain paperwork and help with onward transportation.
Ms. Anand said she had spoken to the foreign ministers of those countries to ensure that Global Affairs staff could operate there to help Canadians crossing from Iran.