‘They were not part of this conflict’: 2 Canadians killed in Lebanon were trying to flee when hit by bombs, son says

The son of two Canadians killed in Lebanon says his parents were stuck in traffic for hours trying to flee the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah when their vehicle was incinerated in a bomb strike.

Speaking to CityNews from Bahrain, Kamal Tabaja said his parents, Hussein and Daad Tabaja, aged 75 and 70, were killed while trying to flee their village in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon.

“We lost contact with them on Monday when they were stuck in traffic trying to flee from our village down to Beirut,” he explained.

He said the couple, parents of six children, were stuck in traffic for six to seven hours.

At some point, they stopped contacting their children.

“We thought maybe their cellphones were dead,” he said.

But Kamal later heard that there was an Israeli bomb strike in the area.

Kamal has a brother who lives in Lebanon, and he asked him to start making inquiries about their parents.

“There was a bombing the same night around 7:30 to 8 p.m.,” he said. “I called my brother and told him, ‘This doesn’t feel right, and I think you need to go check at the hospital.'”

His brother did, and the news wasn’t good.

“Unfortunately, they confirmed that there was a bombing, they confirmed they had already removed bodies or parts … and he showed them a picture of the vehicle, but the plate was not clear because it was totally burned.”

His brother was later able to identify the vehicle through the engraving on the plate. His mother’s watch was also found inside the car.

“They went back to the hospital and showed them a few parts of bodies…you can’t tell anything.”

The body parts are currently undergoing DNA testing, but Kamal considers it a formality.

“Unfortunately, that was it; it’s the end of two angels, hard-working, caregiving … I can’t tell you the amount of messages, calls and words of support [we’ve received.]”

Family moved to Ottawa

Kamal says his father was a teacher and senior manager at the Beirut airport before the family moved to Ottawa in the late 80s to escape the Lebanese civil war.

“My father decided it’s time to give us a better home. We left like many other refugees and came to Canada in 1989,” he recalled.

A few years later, they were Canadian citizens.

“Ottawa has always been our home,” he said.

“They were hardworking people,” he said of his late parents. “They gave us everything they can and more than they can; they deprived themselves of a lot of things.”

“To anybody that sought help from them, they were stepping up to the plate.”

The couple moved back to Lebanon in 2003 to be closer to family members who had fallen ill. They visited Canada yearly, but those trips slowed down as they aged, Kamal said.

Global Affairs Canada urges Canadian to leave Lebanon

In a statement, Global Affairs Canada acknowledged the deaths of two Canadians and urged all citizens to leave Lebanon.

“In Canada, the federal government continues to prioritize the safety and security of Canadians. That is why the Government of Canada reiterates that Canadians should leave now while the airport is still accessible and commercial airline options remain available.

“Canada is not currently offering assisted departures or evacuations for Canadians in Lebanon, and there is never a guarantee that the Canadian government will evacuate Canadians in a crisis situation. Canadians should not rely on the Government of Canada for assisted departure or evacuation.”

Some members of Parliament, meanwhile, have called for a government evacuation of Canadian citizens from the country.

Global Affairs Canada has said evacuations are “an option of last resort” when there is no commercial means out of the country.

‘They were not part of this conflict’

Kamal says he’s disappointed that the Canadian government hasn’t done more to condemn the bombings.

“They will go up and say we want de-escalation. What is this? There’s a difference between de-escalation and condemnation. So I’m disappointed,” he said.

In a statement on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, did condemn the killings of Kamal’s parents, calling them “innocent people.”

“We refuse to let civilians bear the cost of this conflict,” she said.

As news reports expose the carnage in the increasingly deadly conflict, Kamal says his parents represent the people stuck in the middle.

“My parents were on the road. They had nothing to do with this conflict. They were not part of this conflict; they are harmless people, and yet they got bombed.”

He mourns the fact that his parents, who were married in 1976, didn’t make it to their 50th anniversary.

“It’s taken time to accept it,” he said of their deaths. “I know they are looking at us from above.”

With files from The Canadian Press