Canadian PM urges citizens to leave Lebanon as evacuations top 1,000

Canadian PM urges citizens to leave Lebanon as evacuations top 1,000

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadian citizens still in Lebanon on Saturday to sign up to be evacuated on special flights which have already helped more than 1,000 leave as security there deteriorates.

Canada has 6,000 signed up to leave and officials are trying to reach another 2,500 over the weekend, an official in Trudeau's office said, adding that more flights were being added for Monday and Tuesday.

"We've still got seats on airplanes organised by Canada. We encourage all Canadians to take seats on these airplanes and get out of Lebanon while they can," Trudeau said at a summit of leaders from French-speaking countries in France.

Canada has not been able to fill flights with its citizens and has offered seats to people from the Australia, New Zealand, the United States and some European countries, the official in his office said.

Israel has expanded its strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Lebanon's Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Fighting had been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel's year-old war in Gaza against Hamas.

Trudeau said an immediate ceasefire from both Hezbollah and Israel was needed so the situation could be stabilised and United Nations resolutions could begin to be respected again.