A Windsor, Ont., resident who was killed last week in Lebanon is being remembered by his family as a hard-working man who died trying to save the life of a helper on his property.
Mohamad Hassan Haidar, a married father of five, was with his family caring for his horses at the time of a drone attack, his brother told a news conference Monday.
“Every bit of my life was spent with him,” Hussein Haidar said.
“We were split souls; we were never separated. … I always looked up to him as my role model.”
The news conference was held the same day Israeli troops launched an attack to seize a key south Lebanon town from Hezbollah fighters holed up inside, pressing its war on the Iran-backed group on the eve of historic talks between Israeli and Lebanese government envoys.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is blaming the attack that killed Haidar on Israeli forces.
CBC has reached out to Global Affairs Canada and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for any information they may have and will update the story with any response.
Haidar’s sister, Fatima Haidar, told reporters that Mohamad was speaking to his wife on the phone early Friday morning local time time when he heard a person’s cries outside.
“So, he hung up the phone and rushed to that person, and the paramedics told us afterwards that he didn’t reach far.”
Mohamad, 38, was a hard-working citizen who owned a business, worked long hours and dreamed of retiring at 40, Hussein said.
In a social media post last week, Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky said it was a senseless killing.
“Not a single family should ever have to endure this kind of pain,” she wrote.
“I strictly condemn the violence that continues to take innocent lives, and I join our community in mourning and calling for peace.”
With the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the U.S. set to meet on Tuesday in Washington, Lebanon’s foreign minister said Beirut would use face-to-face negotiations to press for a ceasefire in the war, which has complicated wider diplomacy to halt the conflict in the Middle East.
