An Ottawa man says his two young children are stuck in Beirut while he tries to sort through conflicting messages from Canadian officials about how to get them out.

Taxi driver Abda Issa says the Department of Foreign Affairs told him children unaccompanied by an adult aren't allowed on the ships carrying Canadians out of Lebanon.

Elias and Alexis Issa are stuck in Beirut, Lebanon.

"First, I contact foreign affairs. They said yes, no problem, there is an escort that is going to escort them all the way to Canada. We have people already doing that," Issa told CBC on Friday.

"Then, after the second day they said no, somebody has to be with them."

Issa sent Elias and Alexis, aged 11 and eight, to visit family in Beirut in early June, before the fighting broke out.

An increasingly desperate Issa says his sister, a manager with a Lebanese computer company, is willing to escort the children out of Lebanon. However, she doesn't have valid passport and worries she won't be able to get back into Lebanon after she's delivered the children.

It's also unclear whether she would even be allowed on a ship taking Canadians out of the country.

A Foreign Affairs spokesman in Ottawa said he couldn't comment on Canada's policy towards unaccompanied children leaving Lebanon.

He said that embassy officials in Beirut are dealing with the issue.