The last planned evacuation flight for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) from Israel departed today, Monday, as the federal government wrapped up one evacuation operation while preparing for another.

Ottawa is now planning for the possibility of conducting much larger evacuation efforts in Lebanon, which could become embroiled in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

So far, Canada has assisted approximately 1,600 Canadian citizens and permanent residents, along with their eligible family members, in leaving Israel, alongside a number of foreign nationals. There have been 19 air departures from Tel Aviv in the past ten days, according to Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

In Lebanon, meanwhile, nearly 16,500 citizens have registered with the government so far—indicating that the number of people who may need assistance fleeing Lebanon could be ten times the number of people Ottawa evacuated from Israel.

The registration figures do not tell the whole story, as an estimated 40,000 to 75,000 Canadians live in Lebanon at any given time, according to government data.

In preparation for a potential evacuation operation, the Canadian Armed Forces have deployed personnel in the Lebanese capital Beirut and Cyprus, the Mediterranean island that has been used as a rescue point in the past.

Defense Minister Bill Blair said during an event held on Friday, “We will be ready.”

With concerns that the war will soon spill over into Lebanon, Canadians there are being urged to leave now while the military prepares for evacuation flights.

Two senior officials who helped organize the evacuation told CBC News that Canada is better prepared for this rescue operation than it was at that time, but it remains a daunting task.

Ontario Senator Peter Boehm, a former senior diplomat who led the government task force for the evacuation operation, said, “In 2006, we were scrambling.”

Canada has a very good consular affairs system, and we were doing that at that time as well, but there was nothing ready for this kind of scale.