Maritime communities watch with concern as violence escalates between Hezbollah and Israel

First at Five: Watching And Worrying First at Five connects with Canadians with close ties to Lebanon and Israel – as the conflict deepens in the Middle East.

As violence escalates between Hezbollah and Israel, members of the Maritime Lebanese community watch with a mix of fear and frustration. Many have family in conflict zones and are concerned about the safety of their loved ones.

“There’s a lot of politics in play here, and people are suffering. All we want is peace in the middle east,” said one Halifax local to CTV News.

Robert Huish is an associate professor of international development studies at Dalhousie University. He said if the volatility in the region continues, it’s going to have an impact on Canadians, particularly in the Maritimes, which is home to the country’s largest Lebanese community.

“Canada does have a commitment through NATO and other partners for stability in the region,” Huish said. “If the United States starts sending in more military forces or other countries get involved, there will be that pressure for Canada to join at some point.”

Huish said missiles and projectiles sent by Hezbollah into northern Israel from the Golan Heights in Syria have forced the evacuation of 600 residents since the Israel-Gaza conflict started on Oct 7. Israel has been retaliating by attacking Hezbollah-controlled parts of Lebanon.

“In recent weeks, there’s been more of a call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” Huish said. “Hezbollah has been putting more pressure on Israel to try to commit to a ceasefire, saying that if they commit to a ceasefire in Gaza, Hezbollah will no longer send any ordinance into Israel.”

The conflict escalated on Monday when Israeli strikes killed more that 490 people, making it the deadliest day of conflict in Lebanon since 2006.

Reem Chahrour, a Lebanese-Canadian who had to evacuate from Lebanon this week spoke to CTV from Barcelona.

“I’ve had family members that have passed. My aunt passed away yesterday. She was murdered in an airstrike,” said Chahrour. “IDF send phone calls and text messages to leave the south. Within an hour they were bombing the roads and highways to leave the south. They were bombing paths to hospitals.”

Mark David is the president of the Atlantic Jewish Council (AJC). He said the last year has been difficult for Israeli-Canadians living in Halifax and the escalating conflict with Hezbollah has caused more concern.

“A lot of our community are either from Israel or have friends and family in northern Israel, plus the Atlantic Jewish Council is part of a coast-to-coast group of Jewish communities that sponsor charitable kinds of projects in northern Israel,” David said. “We’re very concerned about what’s going on.”

According to Amnesty International more than 500,000 people in Lebanon have been forced to leave their homes. In northern Israel, 63,000 residents have been displaced since October.

“There’s a lot of internal politics at play here,” said Huish. “The big difference with this conflict right now is there seems to be more of an opportunity to get a ceasefire peace process quicker than what we saw in Gaza, because the IDF in Gaza said they want complete annihilation of Hamas. Here, they’ve held back on that and have given terms.”

Huish said Israel has long prepared to deal with Hezbollah as an aggressor but more people are sympathetic to Lebanon under the current circumstances even though Israeli families are also being displaced.

“The legacy that Benjamin Netanyahu has now achieved through his aggression in Gaza is going to be one that could potentially put him in an international criminal court for humanitarian crimes,” Huish said. “Because of that, the political survival for him is to keep the aggression going and to keep in that war mode.”

David said despite the difficulties, the Israeli-Canadian community support the Israeli government.

“We have a lot of people who moved here from Israel,” David said. “Many have been to Israel many times, including the area that is under attack. It’s been difficult to see what Israel has gone through, in particular the situation involving the hostages [and] that there’s still hostages being held.”

Chahrour is struggling with what she has seen in Lebanon and the people she has lost.

“I feel survivor’s guilt right now,” Chahrour said. “I feel guilty for being out.”

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