The Catholic parishes of southern Lebanon are in an increasingly precarious position as violence spills across its border as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Lebanon’s Islamist Hezbollah Party supports Hamas, which has led to a series of Israeli attacks on Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon. Daily rocket fire is taking place in southern Lebanon, which borders the north of Israel. Areas near the Israeli border are particularly affected.
Ten Catholic parishes close to the Israeli border, and which make up almost the whole of the Maronite Archdiocese of Tyre, saw an exodus of people as the conflict in Gaza escalated. Now, about 70 per cent of parishioners have returned. <br><br>Maronite Archbishop Charbel Abdallah of Tyre told Aid to the Church in Need (CAN) that most of the people who fled and went to Beirut or further north “have now returned home because they were short of money and the little houses of their relatives who took them in did not have the capacity to accommodate so many people".
He noted, however, that the parishes of Alma el Chaeb and Quzah remain “nearly empty, because they lie entirely in the areas of the air strikes; a large proportion of the houses there have been completely destroyed.”
He added: “We find ourselves in a state of war.”
ACN and the local Church are helping the affected population, which is still suffering from a terrible financial crisis that took place in 2019.
“The eyes of the world are on the war in Gaza, but something that the media rarely reports is the fact that this has resulted in an armed conflict taking place in southern Lebanon,” said Marielle Boutros, Project Coordinator of ACN in Lebanon.
“As with the people in Gaza, this is not the first war which the people in southern Lebanon have had to experience. They can’t cope with the noise of the rockets anymore and are traumatised. They really need our prayers,” she said.
Abdallah said he visits the parishes affected by the war, although twice already during his visits, bombs have landed nearby.
“We try to keep the spiritual life of the parishes going by celebrating all the usual festivals, whether the festivals of the liturgical year, the festivals of patron saints or First Communion,” the archbishop said.
“After the celebrations we listen to the people to see what needs they have and to help them with our modest means.”
Abdallah said these visits “encourage the people enormously; they sense that they have not been left in the lurch by the Church”.
Boutros said she is deeply impressed by the courage and faithfulness of the many project partners of ACN in southern Lebanon.
“None of them – whether bishops, priests, religious brothers or nuns – have left the region in the face of the constant danger. They feel responsible for staying with the people in their need and offering them support and comfort,” she said.
She noted even the priests of the two parishes Alma el Chaeb and Quzah – which are often near the airstrikes – are still in place.
Earlier this week, Hezbollah released a nine-minute drone footage of the Israeli port city of Haifa filmed in daytime, showed civilian and military areas it could attack.
In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded with a post on <em>X</em>, stating that Isreal will not tolerate any such attack.
“[Hezbollah] boasts today about filming the ports of Haifa, operated by international companies from China and India, and threatens to attack them,” Katz wrote.
“We are very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit." <br><br><em>Photo: A smoke plume rises over the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila during an Israeli bombardment, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters; 16 May 2024. (Photo by RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
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