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The Canadian government said Tuesday it is alarmed by the escalation of violence and attacks in Lebanon, as the war in the Middle East expands.
“We condemn attacks against civilians, civilian infrastructure, and UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon] personnel, which are unacceptable,” Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said in a series of posts on social media.
Canada pledged solidarity with the people of Lebanon, who, it said, have been “unwillingly drawn into” the conflict.
Israel’s military pounded the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut Tuesday, and its troops pushed deeper into the country’s south.
Canada is deeply alarmed by the dangerous escalations in Lebanon. We condemn attacks against civilians, civilian infrastructure, and UNIFIL personnel, which are unacceptable.
Lebanon was pulled into the war last week, when Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire on Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
Israel has since launched air strikes across Lebanon’s south, east and Beirut’s suburbs, killing close to 570 people, according to a report by the Lebanese government’s disaster risk management unit on Tuesday.
“The protection of civilians across the region must be an absolute priority, GAC said, calling on all parties to “uphold international humanitarian law and prevent further mass displacement.”
CBC News spoke with two Canadians with ties to Lebanon about what they were feeling as the war continues.
Canadian staying in Lebanon, for now
Christy Mady told CBC News she is staying in Lebanon for now, despite being able to see and hear the explosions in Beirut from her home. The Canadian associate professor teaches at Notre Dame University-Louaize in central Lebanon.
“I’m teaching and I’m committed to finishing this semester,” she said from her home in Sehaileh. “Because I am far away from immediate danger, I want to stay here for my students.”
Mady said her classes have been moved online and though Ottawa has offered her a seat on a flight out of Beirut, she won’t leave unless she feels she is in danger.
She acknowledged it’s difficult for her students — some have been displaced; others have friends and family in targeted areas — but she said they are still coming to class, doing homework and studying for exams.
“I’m a person also that comes from the war generation in Lebanon, and we did that, as well,” she said. “We want education to continue so that they don’t end up losing their year.”
Lebanese authorities say more than 750,000 people have been displaced already.
Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said on Tuesday that the state was bracing itself for more displacement than in 2024, when the last war between Israel and Hezbollah forced more than a million people out of their homes, with fewer resources to help.
“Our traditional partners and friends in the Gulf are of course under stress themselves,” she told Reuters. “So we’re appealing to the international community to be with us at this moment to help stabilize the situation in terms of humanitarian needs.”
Watching from afar
Watching what is happening in her country from afar is especially hard for Jenny Majzoub, who came to Canada about 12 years ago and now lives in Victoria.
There are between 200,000 and 400,000 people of Lebanese descent living in Canada, the government said.
Majzoub told CBC News that her heart is “in two places,” as her family is so close to the violence and there is nothing she can do to help them. She said decisions being taken by governments and militaries are affecting innocent people on the ground.
“People there are just affected by fear and unsafety and uncertainty,” she said. She has two nephews under the age of six in Lebanon, and knows herself the effects war can have on a child. She was in the country in 2006 when Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war.
“I was about 13 years old at that time and I’m still traumatized with what I’ve lived at that time, so I just can’t imagine my nephews going through that — not able to go to their schools and live life.”
Jenny Majzoub was 13 when she lived through the 2006 war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel. Now in Victoria, she says she is watching with ‘lots of anxiety and uncertainty’ as Israeli airstrikes pummel Lebanon, where her parents and other family members still live, as part of its ongoing joint offensive with the U.S. against Iran.
Twenty years later, the two sides are still fighting. Israel is demanding Hezbollah disarm in full. Hezbollah has refused.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on the fighting in Lebanon Wednesday morning.
France called for the meeting with support from the council’s other European members, expressing deep concern about the escalating violence in Lebanon.
France’s Foreign Ministry urged Hezbollah “to end its operations and hand over its weapons” and on Israel “to refrain from any land-based or long-term interventions in Lebanon.”
