March 4 (Reuters) - More than 2,000 Canadians have requested assistance from the Canadian government to leave the Middle East amid the intensifying U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran, a Canadian official said on Wednesday.

Half of those inquiries came from Canadians in the United Arab Emirates, 200 from Qatar and 160 from Lebanon, the official said.

The Canadian government is working to secure seats on commercial flights out of some cities in the region, the official said, including 75 that were made available on Wednesday and more expected in the coming days.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto)