OTTAWA — Canada’s international development minister says Israel’s expansion of their offensive into Lebanon will do little but increase tensions in the area.
Speaking to reporters outside of the Liberal’s weekly cabinet meeting, Ahmed Hussen expressed concern over Israel’s latest strategy in their war on terror.
“The escalation of this conflict to Lebanon is not helpful to anyone, and has already caused civilian deaths, the displacement of tens of thousands of people, and that’s why we’re providing $10 million of initial humanitarian aid to the people of Lebanon,” he told reporters in West Block Tuesday morning.
“This will lead to more hostilities in the region. We’ve worked with our allies to try to make sure this conflict doesn’t spread to Lebanon, but sadly it’s happening.”
Canada announced this new funding pledge over the weekend.
As Israel continues its ground offensive into Lebanon — aided by waves of airstrikes in Beirut that managed to eliminate several key terrorist leaders — there’s fears Tuesday that retaliation via an Iranian ballistic missile attack could be “imminent,” according to senior U.S. officials quoted in reports from the Associated Press.
Among the terrorists neutralized in air strikes include Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, as well as Sunday’s death of Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, the head of Hamas in Lebanon and now-former head of UNRWA’s teachers union.
Spadina-Fort York MP Kevin Vuong accused Hussen of being a little too selective in his outrage.
“Hezbollah has been indiscriminately firing rockets at Israel for nearly a year, but we didn’t hear a word from Minister Hussein calling for de-escalation, nor did he speak up when that indiscriminate rocket fire displaced tens of thousands of people in northern Israel,” he said.
“If you only speak up when a sovereign nation acts to defend itself from terrorist attack, you’re not an advocate for peace, you’re an apologist for terrorists.”
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Hussen was also asked numerous times if he considered Israel’s ground offensive an “invasion” of Lebanon, deftly ducking the question each time.
He also wouldn’t comment on if Nasrallah’s death was “productive” in the conflict.
“Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organization, so I don’t know what you want me to say beyond that,” he said.
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