Canadians in the Middle East have been told to make plans that “do not rely” on the Canadian government as the US and Israel go to war with Iran it escalates.

Approximately 97,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents are registered in the region, Global Affairs Canada announced Tuesday.

Canadians are told to “avoid all travel” to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and to avoid non-essential travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

“Our ability to provide consular services to Canadians during active conflict is limited, with priority given to providing essential services such as processing travel documents,” the GAC said Tuesday morning.

“Canadians in the affected country should prepare contingency plans that do not rely on assistance from the Government of Canada to leave,” the ministry added.

The update added, however, that GAC will share information with Canadians registered in the region once air travel and/or land crossing is available.

As of Tuesday, the GAC said it was not aware of any Canadians being injured or killed as a result of the hostilities.

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The Middle East war is expanding as the US and Israel expand their strikes against Iran

The actual number of Canadians in the region is likely higher because registration with the GAC is voluntary.

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There were almost 3,000 Canadians registered with the GAC in Iran alone, but the largest number was in the United Arab Emirates (24,594).

The GAC sends regular updates to registered Canadians and encourages them to remain vigilant with these messages and to follow the advice of local officials.

The American and Israeli attack on Iran and the Iranian retaliation that followed caused global flight disruptions.

Tens of thousands of people are stranded across the Middle East as Iran’s war spreads across the region.

Air Canada has canceled flights to Israel and Dubai until March 22, with flights scheduled to resume on March 23.

“We are monitoring the situation and will adjust our schedule accordingly,” the airline said.

Several European and Asian countries have already begun evacuating their citizens from the affected regions.

Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger announced that the repatriation flight with the Austrians will depart on Wednesday from the capital of Oman, Muscat. The minister said that the first evacuation flight with “especially vulnerable people” had already taken off on Sunday.

Almost 18,000 Austrian citizens are registered in the region, authorities said.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene also said her country would begin evacuating “the most vulnerable groups of Lithuanian citizens” from the United Arab Emirates and other surrounding countries.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that Poland has prepared planes for evacuation in case the situation in the region worsens.
He estimated that there are 14,000 Poles in the United Arab Emirates, and a total of 400,000 people from the EU.

More than 480 Polish citizens have already managed to leave Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, Tusk said.

South Korean officials say they have evacuated 62 citizens from Israel to Egypt by bus, following the previous evacuation of 23 Koreans from Iran.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it had also evacuated four Korean-Americans from Israel.

Thailand will evacuate 300 citizens from Iran, including its diplomats, by land via Turkey.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Tuesday that the evacuees were expected to be transported to a border town in Turkey as soon as possible before flying back to Thailand.

Thai officials said about 100,000 Thai nationals live and work in the Middle East, including 60,000 Thai nationals in Israel.

The prime minister said about 1,000 Thai nationals in the United Arab Emirates have applied to return to the country and can fly back on normal commercial flights. However, the government would also prepare to transport its citizens to other countries if the airspace is closed.

– with files from the Associated Press

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