Inuvik (July 24/06) - Inuvik's Terry Elkhatib holds a picture of his children, gently touches the image and worries that's as close as he'll ever get to them again.

Elkhati's children - Hamadi, 6 and Maylak, 9 - live in the Beekaa Valley in Lebanon.

Terry Elkhatib, right, holds a picture of his children Hamadi, 6, and Maylak, 9, who are living in the Beekaa Valley in Lebanon. Both Terry and his brother Ayman are worried that the family will be injured in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, which has already injured hundreds, including a reported 60 civilian casualties in a single day last week. - Philippe Morin/NNSL photos

It is a dangerous region, where thousands of civilians are trapped in the midst of the growing conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Elkhatib says he has stopped working since the conflict began.

"I don't sleep," he said. "All I do is watch TV."

Sitting at home restless, his television is on 24 hours a day, tuned to one of many news networks beaming updates from the Middle East.

He said he prays his wife Salwa, who he has not seen in two years, and his children are safe.

Elkhatib's eldest son, 17-year-old Mooduy, was scheduled to leave Lebanon for Inuvik on July 13.

When two Israeli air strikes hit Rafiq Hariri International Airport in Beirut, however, Mooduy was reported missing.

He surfaced in Edmonton a week later, however, having found another flight out of the chaos.

While he is glad Mooduy arrived safely, Elkhatib said the airport bombing has made him even more nervous about the safety of his wife and two youngest. Elkhatib's younger brother Ayman, who also lives in Inuvik, can't say how many of his friends and family live in Lebanon.

"It's hundreds," he said. "I have two sisters, my grandmother, my uncles, aunts, and cousins, it's a lot of people."

An employee of The Roost restaurant in Inuvik, he said he is unsure whether to watch satellite news, his fear growing with each rocket attack and bombing raid played live, or turn off the television altogether. Worst of all, he said telephone lines in the Middle East are unreliable.

"In the past couple of days, there have been no lines. It's a rough situation," he said. "You get up in the morning, the TV is on and you see what's happening - but you can't reach them."

Both the Elkhatis say the reaction of the Canadian government is insufficient.

Though members of their family are Canadian citizens, they are currently unable to escape.

While the Canadian embassy in Lebanon has encouraged Canadians to leave, it has also warned them to stay indoors certain days.

Ayman Elkhati said the contradiction is maddening, as his family is not sure what to do.

With children trapped in the war zone it is especially worrisome.

"What does a two-year-old have to do with this?" he asked rhetorically.

Though Inuvik seems a world away from the Middle East, the Ekhati brothers are not alone.

They are joined in their vigil by many others such as Hadi Mourtada, a cab driver in Inuvik who also has family in Lebanon.

"It's awful," he said. "Sometimes you get to speak to them, but you have to keep trying all day."

Mourtada added the location of the conflict, in cities with tens of thousands of people living so close together, makes the idea of escalating violence even more terrifying.

"They are bombing civilians," he said. "I watch all the channels on satellite news. It is all very sad."

John Ozolins, a daytime dispatcher who works for United and Town Taxi in Inuvik, said of the company's 30 employees, 13 are either Palestinian or Lebanese.

He said two cabbies have even left Inuvik to try to rescue their trapped families.

Last he heard, they were still in Edmonton, trying to catch a flight to Lebanon.

"It sounds like it's pretty traumatic," he said. "You might not think it, but there are about 24 Muslim families in Inuvik."