Lebanon 1967

International Operation Name: not applicable

International Operation Dates:  not applicable

Mandating Organization: Government of Canada

Region Name:  Middle East

Location:  Beirut

Canadian Operation Name: (Lebanon – 1967)

Canadian Operation Dates: 1967/06/05 – 1967/06/08

Mission Mandate: If required, airlift to Lahr, Germany Canadian embassy staff and other Canadian nationals from Beirut.

Mission Notes:

After months of increasing tension and belligerency, war between Egypt, Israel and Syria started on 5 June 1967.  The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) had just completed evacuating the Canadian contingent of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) and was in the process of completing their transfer back to Canada.

With the outbreak of war, the Department of External Affairs requested the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) place an aircraft on standby in Nicosia.  External Affairs would arrange the evacuation of Embassy staff from Beirut, Lebanon to Nicosia.  At the same time the Canadian government now saw the possible need to evacuate Canadian citizens from the Middle East.  The CAF would then fly them and any other Canadian nationals to Lahr, Germany.  The three Caribou aircraft of 115 Air Transport Unit, the Canadian air detachment with UNEF, had already arrived in Lahr.  On 5 June 1967 a C-130 Hercules was diverted to Nicosia, Cyprus where it was placed on 12-hour standby.  Late on the afternoon of 7 June 1967, the decision was made in Ottawa that the Hercules could be released from its standby posture – this was early on the 8th in Nicosia.  The aircraft left on the 8th, with just the crew onboard.

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