Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday condemned what he called Israel’s “illegal invasion” of southern Lebanon, which he said is a violation of territorial sovereignty.

Carney told reporters in French in Wakefield, Que., that a ceasefire is necessary between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, against which Israeli forces have launched a renewed offensive.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier Tuesday that Israel plans to control a 30-kilometre area between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River — about one-tenth of Lebanon’s territory — even after the fighting with Hezbollah ends.

“It’s an illegal invasion — it’s an invasion of Lebanon,” Carney said in English. “It’s a violation of their territorial sovereignty.

“From a practical perspective, the government of Lebanon has banned Hezbollah, is trying to take action against Hezbollah and their terrorist activities and their threats to Israel. And that is the purported justification for this invasion. So we condemn it.”

Global Affairs Canada posted on X last week that the government “strongly condemns Israel’s plans to occupy territory in southern Lebanon,” while also calling on Hezbollah to disarm and cease its attacks on Israel.

3:20
US-Iran war: Conflict expands as it enters its 2nd month with strikes hitting civilian targets

The Canadian government has declared Hezbollah to be a foreign terrorist entity since 2002. The group takes inspiration from the Iranian revolution and is dedicated to Israel’s destruction, according to the listing.

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The war in the Middle East widened when Hezbollah launched missiles toward Israel on March 2, two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran.

Israel immediately retaliated and declared war on Hezbollah, launching waves of airstrikes and sending ground troops across the border.

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced and another 1,200 have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began. Ten Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, including four announced Tuesday, and three United Nations peacekeepers were killed earlier this week.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier this month ordered residents to leave swathes of the south, the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, and the group’s political heartlands in eastern Lebanon.

1:52
Israel intends to seize parts of Lebanon as strikes against Hezbollah intensify, government says

Katz said Tuesday that Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border, and that 600,000 people who fled the south will not be allowed home until northern Israel is secure.

“At the end of the operation, the IDF will establish a security zone inside Lebanon — a line of defense against anti-tank missiles — and will maintain security control over the entire area up to the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges,” he said in a statement.

He added the destruction of homes near the Lebanese border will be done “in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in order to permanently remove the threats near the border to northern residents.”

Israel on Tuesday launched new strikes targeting what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut.

Lebanon’s minister of social affairs, Haneen Sayed, told Reuters that Israel’s ground operation, which she described as a “land grab,” was deepening the risk that Lebanese would be stuck in long-term displacement.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that Hezbollah had fired almost 5,000 drones, rockets and missiles at Israel during the conflict.

The war is the second major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah since 2024. Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in the last war, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and thousands of its fighters.

—with files from Reuters

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Tuesday said that Iran will take part in the upcoming World Cup despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.“Iran will be at the World Cup… That’s why we’re here. We’re delighted because they’re a very, very strong team, I’m very happy,” Infantino said at half-time during Iran’s friendly against Costa Rica in Turkey, as cited by news agency AFP.Infantino went on to stress that Iran’s “matches will be played where they are supposed to be, according to the draw”.Earlier, in an interview with N+, the FIFA president had said, “Iran represents its people, those who live in Iran and those who live abroad. They qualified for this World Cup on the field; they were a team that qualified very early. It’‘No Plan B, C or D’:s a football-mad country. We want them to play; they will play in the World Cup, and there are no plans B, C, or D; it’s plan A. We live in the real world and we know what the situation is, which is very complicated, but we are working and we are going to make sure that Iran plays this World Cup in the best conditions.“The Iranian Football Federation had earlier said it is “negotiating” with FIFA to shift its World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico due to the war involving the US and Israel with Iran.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also said Mexico is ready to host Iran’s first-round matches if needed.The World Cup, to be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, will begin on June 11. Iran are scheduled to play their first Group G match against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15.Infantino had earlier said that Donald Trump assured that Iran’s team would be allowed to participate. The team is set to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, followed by Egypt in Seattle.However, Trump later said Iran’s team should not travel to the tournament “for their own life and safety”.Iran responded to this by saying, “no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup”.Infantino attended Tuesday’s match near Antalya, although his visit was not announced in advance and media were kept away from the area where he was seated.Iran had also played a friendly against Nigeria in Belek last Friday. During that match, players wore black armbands and carried school bags during the national anthem to remember those killed in a strike on a primary school in Iran on the first day of the war.The airstrike, which took place in the southern city of Minab on February 28, killed at least 170 people, including students and teachers.

Defence Minister David McGuinty said Monday that Canada “will not be participating” in the war in Iran after Prime Minister Mark Carney last week did not rule out the possibility of Canadian military involvement.

Speaking at an unrelated media event in Ottawa, McGuinty added that Canada has not yet decided to join its NATO allies in offering assistance to Persian Gulf nations that have come under attack by Iran.

“Clearly the situation in Iran is extremely serious,” McGuinty told reporters. “It’s one we’ve been watching since the beginning.

“It’s important for Canadians to know that Canada was not consulted before the action undertaken by Israel and the United States. Canada was not asked to comment, Canada has not participated and Canada will not be participating.”

McGuinty’s comment echoed the Prime Minister’s Office summary of a late Sunday meeting of the government’s incident response group to discuss the situation in the Middle East, which McGuinty said Monday he participated in.

“Canada was not consulted, did not participate, and has no plans to participate in the offensive actions against Iran that are being undertaken by the U.S. and Israel,” the PMO readout stated.

In Australia on March 4, Carney said the notion of Canadian participation was a “fundamental hypothetical” but said he could not “categorically rule out participation” — particularly if allies needed defending.

Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan told reporters at a defence and security conference in Ottawa last week that she and her NATO counterparts would be meeting to consider helping Gulf states defend themselves against bombing from Iran.

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She said the Canadian Armed Forces would present a recommendation to the government after the meeting, which took place Friday.

McGuinty said Monday that “a number of NATO members have decided to provide some assistance to neighbouring countries in the immediate vicinity of Iran.”

“Canada has made no such decision,” he added. “It’s something that we’re monitoring carefully.”

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Canada has ‘no intention to participate in Operation Epic Fury’: Anand

A number of European nations including France and the United Kingdom have deployed additional military assets to the region, including air defences and warships.

McGuinty said Carignan and other NATO military leaders were monitoring the Iran war’s impact on the alliance’s military readiness and ammunition supplies, including how that may affect the ability to assist in the war in Ukraine.

The House of Commons was set to hold a debate Monday evening on Canada’s approach to the war in Iran and its impact on Canadians abroad. Carney will not be participating.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre earlier Monday accused Carney of contradicting himself on Canada’s position, which Poilievre said no one understands.

Carney last week walked back his initial statement of support for the Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, saying the position was taken “with regret” due to a potential violation of international law.

Asked if he supported the U.S. and Israeli strikes, Poilievre said Conservatives support replacing Iran’s “terrorist regime with a democratically elected and peaceful regime,” although there have been conflicting statements from the U.S. administration on whether regime change was the goal of the war.

“As for Canada’s role in it, we’re not aware of any specific requests that the prime minister has received,” Poilievre added.

“If he has, we’d encourage him to share that information with all Canadians so we can have a debate about what we should do.”

Poilievre said Canada should be focused on what it can control at home, particularly on energy. He said Conservatives were demanding an emergency debate about how the conflict is affecting global energy supplies and how Canada can help solve the issue.

McGuinty said the federal government, for now, remains focused on the safety of Canadians in the Middle East and facilitating transport out of the region for those who wish to leave.

“The situation is serious,” he said. “It’s one that’s evolving, one that’s iterative, one that is difficult to predict. So we are, as DND (Department of National Defence) and the Canadian Armed Forces, watching it carefully, and in fact, we met with the Incident Response Group yesterday with the prime minister and five or six ministers to review the situation.”

Global Affairs Canada said Sunday that, out of the nearly 110,000 Canadians registered with the government who are in the Middle East, 9,185 have made requests for assistance and 5,267 have asked for help to leave the region.

The government has been using multiple methods of transportation, including booking commercial flight seats and ground transportation, to get people out. Those in Iran have been forced to travel to neighbouring countries where they can receive consular assistance.

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Iraq’s participation in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-off Tournament, that will decide the final two teams for the competition, is under serious threat as chaos escalates in the West Asia region.

The inter-confederation play-offs take place from March 26 to 31 in Monterrey, Mexico with six teams fighting out for the final two spots for FIFA World Cup that takes place across the United States, Mexico and Canada this summer.

**FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-offs: Format, teams qualified, dates – all you need to know**

As Iran and US combined with Israel continue to exchange strikes, the airspace in most parts of the Gulf region has been shut leading to travel plans going awry. Iraq’s football team too is facing a big problem due to the war and it could lead to them not participating in the play-offs.

Iraq’s airspace to remain close for at least four weeks

Iraq Football Association (IFA) has received a letter from Iraq’s national airline, Iraqi Airways, and the Ministry of Transportation that the country’s airspace will be shut down for at least four weeks. According to a report in the Guardian, this would leave around 40 percent of Iraqi squad to unable to travel to Mexico.

An alternative route has reportedly been suggested where these players will have to travel 25 hours by road to Turkey but even that route will be not safe amid the conflict.

To make matters worse, Guardian reports that a number of Iraq’s players and backroom staff are yet to receive visas for Mexico or the United States. With several embassies in the region shut down due to conflict, it will be hard to process visa applications in the limited time even if the airspace opens up.

The IFA is currently in crisis talks with FIFA who have reportedly stated that the play-offs will go ahead as planned.

Iraq’s World Cup dream in doubt

Despite conflicts raging at home, Iraq had made it to the play-offs and now remain just win away from booking a slot in the FIFA World Cup. The winner of the Bolivia vs Suriname match will face Iraq in the match which will decide who goes to the tournament.

In fact, Iraq could also qualify for the World Cup if Iran withdrew due to the recent war. They are the next highest-ranked team based on the Asian Football Confederation qualifying tournament and would advance to the tournament if lran walks out. However, with visa delays and air travel restrictions in place, their hopes of getting to the World Cup are in serious trouble.

Canadians remain stranded across parts of the Middle East as the war involving Iran continues to disrupt travel, grounding  thousands of flights and leaving some tourists scrambling to find a way home.

Global Affairs Canada says that as of Wednesday, more than 106,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents are registered in the Gulf region, a number that has been growing since Sunday.

Brothers Kimball and Ravi Sarin are among those caught in the disruption. The Canadians were supposed to leave Sri Lanka on Saturday after a month-long vacation, but their flight was cancelled amid the travel chaos.

“We had another flight. We’ve been refused twice at the airport,” Kimball Sarin told Global News.

2:08
War, airstrikes leave Canadians stranded in Middle East

His brother said the delays are becoming urgent. “I’m on medication and I’m running out. I only have a couple of days’ (worth) left,” Ravi Sarin said.

Ottawa says it has secured a limited number of seats on commercial flights from Beirut and is looking at other options.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Israel’s Ministry of Tourism is operating buses to the Menachem Begin border crossing between Eilat and Taba, Egypt.

However, Anand said Global Affairs Canada is not currently offering assisted departures.

Will McAleer of the Travel Health Insurance Association said travellers in affected areas may have limited options.

“That means make sure that you’re understanding how you might be able to get out. Or if you’re in some of the affected areas where they’ve ceased all airline operations, that means you need to sit tight,” he said.

In Doha, where airspace remains closed, Canadians are waiting for conditions to change.

2:26
Montrealers stranded in the Gulf banding together with other Canadians looking to get home

Stephen Lougheed of Queen’s University is with a group of students whose return from a field trip in Sri Lanka was interrupted when their trip home was grounded in Qatar.

“It’s closed air space because there are still missiles and drones flying,” Lougheed said.

The group has been staying in a hotel while considering whether they could leave by land, though Lougheed said the situation can shift quickly. “There have been some lulls in hostilities, but that can change on a dime,” he said.

A Quebec woman told Global News she has been calling her sister almost hourly since Sunday after she became stranded in Qatar.

Melissa Agathiadis says her sister, Stephanie Agathiadis, was supposed to return home on March 2 from a three-week trip to Thailand and Vietnam. Instead, Stephanie and her partner got stuck in Qatar during a stopover after airspace closures. “Missiles are flying left and right,” Stephanie Agathiadis said.

The Sarin brothers say they have now booked another flight to Toronto through Hong Kong on Friday, though they remain cautious.

“Scared to get too excited about going home yet, but we’re hopeful,” Kimball Sarin said.

The trip back to Canada is expected to take about 35 hours, if it goes ahead as planned.

1:59
‘It’s not easy’: Carney speaks frankly about dealing with Trump

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Saskatchewan drivers are in for a unfortunate surprise after further escalation in the Middle East.

According to Devan Mescall, a professor specializing in accounting at the University of Saskatchewan, 30 per cent of the world’s oil makes its way through the Strait of Hormuz.

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With the supply being affected following the tensions in the Middle East, however, gas prices and other goods could be subject to inflation.

With unpredictability around how long the conflict will go on, it’s uncertain what the future effects on gas prices will be.

Sania Ali shares more details in the video above.

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday reaffirmed Canada’s support for U.S. and Israeli efforts to eliminate Iran’s nuclear and terrorist threats, but added it was a position taken “with regret” and suggested the decision to attack Iran was “inconsistent with international law.”

Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Australia, during his three-country international trip, Carney said the growing Middle East conflict “is another example of the failure of the international order” that he warned about in his widely-watched speech in Davos in January.

“We support efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security,” he said. “Because Canada is taking the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be.

“We do, however, take this position with regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order,” Carney continued.

He particularly noted the failure of the U.S. and Israel to engage with the United Nations or allies “including Canada” before attacking Iran on Saturday.

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“We were not informed in advance. We were not asked to participate. Prima facia, it appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law,” he said.

“We took a position because we view the nuclear threat and the export of terrorism of Iran over decades as one of the greatest threats to international peace and security. … In that limited sense, we supported that aspect.

“That is not a blank cheque,” Carney continued. “That is not us participating, that is not us asking for something in exchange for that — none of that is true. That is just a straight-up position.”

1:29
Carney says Canada supports US, Israel strikes on Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons

Carney later confirmed he did not view Iran’s nuclear program as an “imminent threat,” but said an Iran armed with a nuclear weapon “would be the biggest threat” and again cited the regime’s support for terrorism and multiple failed international attempts to end the program.

“Nobody has a civil nuclear program that’s buried a mile beneath the desert. So that is a threat,” he said. “The exact timing of it, the exact aspect of it, I’m not privy to all the information in terms of that.”

Although he condemned Iran’s strikes on neighbouring Gulf nations that have hit civilian infrastructure and killed civilians, he did not similarly criticize the U.S. and Israeli strikes, instead imploring “all parties” to “respect the rules of international engagement.”

“Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal,” he added.

“Resolution of this crisis will require commitment to a broader political solution, and diplomatic engagement is essential to avoid a wider and deeper conflict. Innocent civilians must be protected, and all parties must commit to finding enduring agreements to end both nuclear proliferation and terrorist extremism. Canada will pursue this approach with like-minded countries and participants in the conflict.”

More to come…

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