A Catholic priest was killed in artillery strikes by the Israeli military on a Christian village in south Lebanon on March 9. The attack formed part of Israel’s ongoing offensive following the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023.
Fr Pierre Al-Raai died after sustaining wounds when his house on the edge of Al Qlayaa, a Christian-majority village in the Marjayoun district, was struck by Israeli shells. Three others were also injured and taken to Marjayoun hospital, according to L’Orient Today.
Hanna Daher, who leads the Al Qlayaa Municipal Council, told the press he was unsure why his village had been targeted. “The reason for the shelling is unclear. Qlayaa is a safe area,” he said.
Daher added that after the attack “everyone rushed to the scene”, where Fr Al-Raai’s house lay smouldering in ruins. As villagers attempted to help the wounded and evacuate the building, a second strike hit the site.
“We narrowly escaped a massacre because many people were present,” Daher added.
Blame and justification for the attack have caused consternation. Videos have circulated of Fr Al-Raai complaining about “drunken” and troublemaking outsiders infiltrating the area and putting it at risk. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Forces cited the presence of Hezbollah in the vicinity.
“We don’t want any visitor or stranger [in our town],” Al-Raai told cameras in the months preceding his death.
However, reporting has varied according to differing allegiances in the conflict.
Bree A Dail, who works for the Daily Wire, initially reported that “Islamists brutally murdered this Catholic priest”.
Firas Mordad, a Lebanese-born foreign policy analyst and Catholic commentator on the Lotus Eaters programme in the United Kingdom, called Dail a “liar”, stating that Israel was responsible for Al-Raai’s killing.
Dail later shared a video showing Hezbollah fighters alongside Al-Raai’s warnings about unwelcome outsiders. She was criticised for not specifying that the footage was from Qouzah, a different town. Questions remain as to why the house where Al-Raai was staying, which reportedly contained only three people, was targeted in Al Qlayaa.
Lebanese Forces spokesperson Samir Geagea said: “[S]o far, the army has not fulfilled this mission, and the tragedy in Qlayaa today is the clearest proof of that.”
While acknowledging problems caused by Hezbollah’s presence in the area, Geagea called on the Lebanese government to instruct the army to take the necessary measures to protect civilians.
Fr Matthieu Raffray, a priest of the Institut du Bon Pasteur with a substantial media following, wrote: “The death of Father Pierre Al-Raï, killed in Lebanon by an Israeli strike, deeply upsets me. A priest fallen in the midst of his people, faithful to his mission until the very end.
“May God welcome his soul and support the Christians of Lebanon, a people whose courage commands admiration,” he added.
