Baghdad: The Canadian government has begun military emergency procedures to evacuate 45,000 of its diplomats and citizens in Lebanon, amid fears of a war between Israel and the Lebanese "Hezbollah". Israeli Channel 12 reported that Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly informed her Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, of this decision. Joly explained that Canada "sent military forces to the region to help evacuate Canadians from Lebanon in the event of a war". The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recently advised Canadians to avoid traveling to Lebanon due to the deteriorating security situation and armed tension with Israel. Source: National Iraqi News Agency