By Ryan Patrick Jones
March 4 (Reuters) – The Canadian government is working to repatriate citizens who are stranded in the Middle East by organizing seats on commercial flights, contracting charter flights and offering ground transportation options to neighboring countries, Canada’s foreign affairs minister said on Wednesday.
More than 2,000 Canadians have requested assistance from the Canadian government to leave the region since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said, with around half of those inquiries coming from Canadians in the United Arab Emirates, 237 from Qatar, 164 from Lebanon, 93 from Israel and 74 from Iran.
Anand said she had directed her office to enter into contracts to charter flights out of the United Arab Emirates in the coming days, contingent on approval from the UAE government to use its airspace.
The government secured 75 seats on a flight leaving Beirut on Wednesday, and will be offering more seats in the coming days for people wishing to leave Lebanon, Anand said. Two hundred Canadians with plane tickets were being bussed from Qatar to Saudi Arabia, she said, and the government is “engaging” ground transportation for other Canadians who want to leave Qatar.
Officials are providing information to Canadians in Israel about a bus service to Egypt operated by the Israeli government where passengers can be taken to open airports in that country, she said.
Commercial air traffic remained largely absent across much of the region on Wednesday, with major Gulf hubs – including Dubai, the world’s busiest airport for international passengers – largely shut for a fifth straight day, in the biggest travel disruption since the COVID pandemic.
Repatriation flights chartered by other countries, including Britain and France, were due to leave on Wednesday, while the United Arab Emirates opened safe air corridors to allow some citizens to return home. Under normal circumstances, thousands of commercial flights would depart the region each day.
“I want to speak directly now to Canadians in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Your government is with you. We are working hard for you, and we are arranging options for you to leave the region,” Anand said at a news conference.
Canada cannot arrange ground transportation out of Iran because it does not have a diplomatic presence there, but it has sent officials to border crossings to meet Canadians who cross the border and assist them with visas and onward travel, Anand said.
Canada has issued travel advisories urging Canadians to avoid all travel to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and to avoid non-essential travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Chris Reese)
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