(Catholic Herald).
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. 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.