{"id":521021,"date":"2026-03-07T19:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521021\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T19:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:31:18","slug":"ottawa-man-stuck-in-iraq-amid-middle-east-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521021\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa man stuck in Iraq amid Middle East conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man from Ottawa says he\u2019s stranded in Iraq with no way out of the region. CTV\u2019s Kimberley Fowler reports. <\/p>\n

The growing conflict in the Middle East has left thousands of Canadians stranded and asking for the federal government\u2019s help to get home. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says flights are being booked for Canadians in Dubai and Beirut, but those in neighbouring countries, where the airspace is still closed, are trapped.<\/p>\n

Ali Dhaif is an employee in the Bell Media Ottawa building and is currently stranded in Baghdad. The airport in Iraq has been shut down and he\u2019s desperate to get home. For now, he has no way out of the region. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to come home as soon as I can,\u201d says Dhaif. <\/p>\n

Getting caught up in the Middle East conflict is something Dhaif never expected. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen things in the sky. We heard airplanes on top of where we are at. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s the Iraqi Forces or the American Military,\u201d says Dhaif. <\/p>\n

\"\"Ali Dhaif Ali Dhaif went to Iraq to get married, but is now stranded in the country with no way to return to Ottawa. (Courtesy: Ali Dhaif) <\/p>\n

He left Ottawa for Iraq in January to get married last month. Dhaif is now waiting to get his marriage license and is hoping to get on his scheduled flight out of Jordan back to Canada next week, but with the airspace closed, he doesn\u2019t know when he\u2019ll be able to get home. <\/p>\n

The Canadian government has arranged transportation to help Canadians escape the conflict. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy team is sourcing all means of transportation for Canadians to leave the region as a whole,\u201d Anand said. <\/p>\n

Dhaif is just one of over 108,000 Canadians who have registered with Global Affairs Canada in the region. So far, about 3,500 have asked for help from the government to get out. <\/p>\n

\u201cStep by step we are ensuring Canadians can leave through three means, either through our charter flights, through block booking on existing airlines and by ground transportation,\u201d explains Anand. \u201cSeaway is always another possibility, but we are cognizant of the dangers of traveling through this means of transportation at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Canadians were able to get back to Canada on a flight from Duabi to Toronto Friday morning, but no plans have been announced to get citizens like Dhaif safely out of Iraq. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to rent a driver with a car, and they would drive us to the Turkish borders. From there we need to figure it out\u2026 I don\u2019t speak Turkish, and I don\u2019t speak their language,\u201d explains Dhaif. <\/p>\n

\"\"Ali Dhaif Ali Dhaif went to Iraq to get married, but is now stranded in the country with no way to return to Ottawa. (Courtesy: Ali Dhaif) <\/p>\n

Dhaif says he\u2019s safe for now, hoping the conflict deescalates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everything works perfectly, the war would end and I can catch my flight on (March) 12th, straight to Amman, Jordan, and from Jordan, straight to Montreal, and then I\u2019ll be in Ottawa as soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fow now, Dhaif waits and staying in contact with Canadian Officials to monitor the situation closely, in hopes that flights from the middle east will resume in the coming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man from Ottawa says he\u2019s stranded in Iraq with no way out of the region. CTV\u2019s Kimberley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[712,49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-521021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}