Syria

: Though the airline can’t fly directly into Syria itself, it could land planes in Istanbul as well as Beirut; an estimated one million people in Lebanon have registered with the United Nations as refugees from the conflict, according to The Chronicle Herald. Air Canada has offered to co-operate with the federal government to the fullest extent possible in any operation to transport Syrian refugees, spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email. Air Canada reached out to the new government following the election, offering its services to help ferry people to Canada as they flee the ongoing civil war and other unrest in Syria. At this point, however, we have only exchanged preliminary information. Other options include ships and military planes, and the government is also exploring housing refugees in old military bases. Commercial aircraft are one of a range of options the government is exploring, Immigration Minister John McCallum said Monday as he announced a new cabinet committee specifically tasked with overseeing the resettlement program promised during the election campaign. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.