As the war between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies, hundreds of Lebanese Christians living in southern Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes following Israeli airstrikes and evacuation orders, with some seeking refuge in nearby monasteries. There is.
Lebanon is home to the second largest Christian population in the Middle East. Roughly 30 to 40 percent of this small, religiously diverse Mediterranean country is made up of Maronite Catholics (the largest Christian group), Melkite Greek Catholics, Greek Orthodox Christians, and Armenian Christians. The country's historic Christian strongholds are in the coastal city of Jounieh north of Beirut, in the Lebanon Mountains, and in the city of Saar in the Bekaa Valley. However, there are mixed Shiite, Sunni, and Druze Christian communities scattered throughout the country.
Israel has declared it is generally not at war with Lebanon and has targeted fighters and weapons from Hezbollah, a Shiite militia designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, but that has not stopped Israeli coercion. Not yet. evacuate Many Christian villages in southern Lebanon are Shiite-majority areas, with scattered Christian communities not allied with Hezbollah.
Imad Larous, the mayor of Ein Eber, one of the Christian towns near the Israeli border, said Israeli authorities had instructed local residents: evacuate Get to town in just 45 minutes.
“The situation is catastrophic,” Larousse said. “Why us? There is no Hezbollah in Ein Eber and Israel knows it.”
Larousse said it's tuesday morning phone Israeli forces began reaching out to residents and telling them to evacuate immediately and not to return until further notice.
“They told me that as mayor, I should tell everyone to leave,” Larousse said. “But we have nothing to do with the fighting. There are no political parties, no Hezbollah, nothing here.”
Later that day, evacuation orders were issued on social media for more than 20 towns and villages, including Ein Eber.
Larrousse, along with many others, has taken refuge at the Monastery and School of Our Lady of the Annunciation, a Maronite Christian institution in the border town of Rumeich, less than three miles from Israel. Many people want to move from there to Beirut for safety reasons.
According to reports, 70 villagers have taken refuge in a convent and school, and local residents have also opened their homes to a further 30 people fleeing the violence. Many others have already fled north to Beirut and beyond.
Sister Maya El Beino, a Catholic nun of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, decided to: stay At St. Joseph's Monastery in Ein Eber, near the local Christian community, he said around 9,000 Christians in three villages in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border were in constant danger because of the attack.
“Everyone talks about those who were evacuated, but no one talks about the many Christians who chose to stay for fear of losing their homes and land forever,” Sister Maya said. .
On June 4, 2024, fires engulfed an area targeted by Israeli artillery fire on the outskirts of the village of Rumeihi in southern Lebanon, as cross-border clashes continued between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters. (KAWNAT HAJU/AFP via Getty Images)
The RA cross stands above Rumeik, a Lebanese Christian town on Lebanon's southern border near the Israeli border, June 27, 2024, in Rumeik, Lebanon. Cross-border shelling and airstrikes between Israel and the extremist political group Hezbollah have become part of daily life for communities on both sides of the border. Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been conducting artillery fire across the border since the October 7 Hamas attack. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Mary and baby Jesus inside a house left in ruins by an Israeli air raid on a target of the Shiite militia Hezbollah in Alma el-Shaab, a Christian village adjacent to Lebanon's southern Blue Line border, May 18, 2024. Christian statues can be seen. Lebanon. The Christian village was caught between a firefight between Hezbollah and Israel. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
Despite being close to the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, a cross stands on the hillside where Lebanese Christians live their daily lives, and Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militias are in the vicinity and surrounding area. rockets are fired at Israel from villages in the area, inviting Israeli counterattacks. Damaged crops and grazing land in Rumeich, Lebanon, May 19, 2024. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
View from the village of Rumeik, Lebanon, on May 19, 2024. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
People receive Holy Communion during Sunday Mass at Al-Tajari Church in the Lebanese Christian town of Rumeich, southern Lebanon, June 30, 2024. Cross-border shelling and airstrikes between Israel and the extremist political group Hezbollah have become part of daily life for communities on both sides of the border. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Lebanese Christians participate in a traditional Palm Sunday procession in Rumeich, a village in southern Lebanon on the border with Israel, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohamed Zaatari)
Lebanese Christians hold up olive branches and palm fronds during a traditional Palm Sunday procession on Sunday, March 24, 2024, in the southern village of Rumeich, on Lebanon's border with Israel. (AP Photo/Mohamed Zaatari)
When the Gaza War began, many people left the area, but “many families returned to their hometowns because living in Beirut was too expensive and they could not bear to be separated from their parents, who were left alone in the south.'' “I've come,” she added. .
St. Joseph's Convent runs the only Catholic school in the area, educating children from 32 surrounding villages, but classes have been suspended due to continued violence.
“They saw how Israel attacked two schools in Gaza. Children were not safe here,” said Sister Maya, who is also the principal of St. Joseph's School.
“The situation is just terrible. People are still carrying the trauma of the 2006 war and there is great fear that bridges and roads will be bombed again, especially now that there are rumors of a ground invasion.” she said.
