Vandalized objets from the Our Lady of Poverty church in Jbeil. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Internal Security Forces arrested a suspect and are investigating the Sunday vandalization of a church in Jbeil, they said in a statement Monday, asserting that "there was no political or religious background" to the incident.
A man broke religious icons and other items from the Our Lady of Poverty church near the Jbeil port on Sunday, sparking outrage, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The ISF statement noted that after examining camera footage from the church, “it became clear that the suspect moved the furniture from inside the church to the outside, and slept on the seats belonging to it, without touching the [donations] collection box."
The statement suggested that the suspect was mentally unstable and had no personal documents, though through questioning they determined he was a Syrian national in his 20s.
Following the incident, Free Patriotic Movement MP Simon Abi Ramia reportedly visited the church and met with monks from the nearby Saint John-Marcus monastery, stating that the vandalism of churches "threatens" the identity of the city and coexistence between residents.
A member of the Political Council of the Free Patriotic Movement, Marwan Malhama, also warned in a statement against "interfering" to release the suspect.
For his part, Jihad al-Laqqis, the imam of Jbeil's historic Sunni Sultan Ibrahim Ben Adham mosque in Jbeil, denounced the incident in a statement, adding that "houses of worship have their sanctity, and attacking any of them is like attacking all the others."
Laqqis called on "the security services to take all necessary measures and not to be complacent in the security of the city."
In 2020, an incident at Laqqis' mosque caused tension in the city. The army at the time reported that an argument had taken place in which the muezzin was injured, while local media outlets reported an "assault" by young people.
Robberies and other crimes have increased in Lebanon, which is struggling in the face of a severe economic crisis that has drastically devalued people's salaries in line with the collapse of the national currency. In early January, the ISF announced the arrest of a person suspected of stealing donations from the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in the village of Houch Hala in the Bekaa Valley.
