Canada’s FM said to tell Israeli FM in tense conversation that Ottawa making plans for unprecedented operation; Katz urges Ottawa to pressure Iran into reining in proxy Hezbollah

Canada is preparing to evacuate 45,000 of its citizens from Lebanon should a full-scale war break out between Israel and Hezbollah, Hebrew media reported on Friday.

The Channel 12 report quoted what it said was a tense conversation held earlier in the day between Foreign Minister Israel Katz and his Canadian counterpart Mélanie Joly. The latter was said to have told Katz that Ottawa had already sent military forces to the region in preparation for “the largest evacuation we have ever undertaken,” amid fears of an escalation in violence between Israel and Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon.

It was unclear if similar plans were being made for the roughly 35,000 Canadian citizens living in Israel.

Katz reportedly urged Joly to put pressure on Hezbollah’s Iranian backers to reign in the terror group.

“The window of opportunity is closing,” Katz was quoted as saying. “Israel will not put up with… the situation where residents of the north can’t return to their homes.” Israel evacuated communities along its northern border following Hama’s October 7 terror onslaught, fearing Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack and amid daily rocket fire. Some 60,000 residents of northern Israel remain displaced. On October 7, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take over 250 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Since then, the Iran-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the northern border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.

Tensions have reached a fever pitch over the past two weeks, as explosive-laden drones launched by Hezbollah have caused fires to ravage much of Israel’s north. Amos Hochstein, the White House’s special envoy to the Middle East, reportedly warned Beirut this past week that if Hezbollah doesn’t cease its near-daily attacks on northern Israel, it could find itself the target of a limited Israeli operation backed by the United States.

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