OTTAWA – A Liberal and a Conservative MP are calling on Canada to help to bring an end to the brewing conflict between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel before it becomes a wider war. 

Fayçal El-Khoury, a Liberal MP from Quebec who holds dual Canadian-Lebanese citizenship, said the casualty count this week from attacks in Lebanon was catastrophic and said that not just a ceasefire but a lasting peace was necessary.

“The first day, more than 500 to 600 people lost their lives, among them were 62 children, 86 women, destruction of residences, hitting the infrastructure, and as you know, more than 2,500 badly wounded,” he said Wednesday, referring to Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets.

The Liberal also lamented the injuries from an attack that targeted Hezbollah pagers, causing them to explode and kill or injure their owners, which is being attributed to Israel, although Israel has not taken credit for it.

Edmonton Conservative MP Ziad Aboultaif also called for the government to do more to bring about an end to the conflict, in a post on the social media site X.

“The Lebanese people did not ask for this war. It must stop,” he wrote Wednesday. “I call on the government and the international community to step up and put an end to this unnecessary pain.”