Catholic worshippers throughout Lebanon gathered for Palm Sunday services this weekend, celebrating their faith while ongoing warfare between Israel and the Iran-supported Hezbollah militia casts uncertainty over the region.
Despite the challenging circumstances, congregations filled a Maronite Catholic church to capacity near Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern neighborhoods. This area, historically a densely populated Shiite community where Hezbollah maintains significant influence, has been largely evacuated due to Israeli military orders and continuous aerial bombardments.
In the southern Lebanese coastal community of Tyre, which has become nearly isolated from other parts of the nation after Israeli forces targeted surrounding bridge infrastructure, the sound of church bells and choir performances echoed through the area during Sunday services.
Congregants offered earnest prayers for an end to hostilities, though religious tensions have remained present since Lebanon’s devastating civil conflict from 1975 to 1990, which primarily divided Christian and Muslim communities. Current churchgoers emphasize that the escalating Israel-Hezbollah violence affects all Lebanese citizens regardless of faith.
“There’s no bombing right here, right now, but no one is safe from this, not the Christians, not anyone,” said Mahia Jamus, a 20-year-old university student in Beirut. “No one is spared the effects.”
In Tyre, where thousands of local residents continue living in their homes and emergency shelters despite Israeli evacuation directives, Christian community members found solace in maintaining their longstanding religious practices while surrounded by ongoing hardship.
“Amid the wars, the tragedies and the destruction that is happening, we are in our land,” Roseth Katra, 41, said from the centuries-old stone church in Tyre. “Today is Palm Sunday, and we are celebrating.”
