A group of 164 Syrian refugees are on their way to Canada, part of the new government’s commitment to accept 25,000 refugees by February from the Arab country that has been engulfed in a nearly five-year-long civil war.
The group left the airport in Beirut Thursday on a Canadian government plane, which will stop in Cologne, Germany, before arriving in Toronto later Thursday.
A second flight is expected to arrive Saturday.
Some 416 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since November 4, but they have come on private aircrafts.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government plans to resettle 25,000 Syrians throughout the country by February.
The refugees will be a mix of government- and privately sponsored people.
The 164 who left Beirut Thursday were privately sponsored, reported CBC, the Canadian broadcaster.