Rai: The inhabitants of south Lebanon 'suffer the policy imposed on them'

Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai said on Sunday in his homily that the situation in southern Lebanon was due to "the politics imposed" on the region's inhabitants.

Southern Lebanon has nearly emptied of its population amid almost daily clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

Referring to the corruption and carelessness of Lebanon's leaders, Rai deplored the "state of humiliation, poverty and social, economic and financial regression" of Lebanese people.

"It is not surprising that our headless state has fallen prey to corrupt people," he said, adding that "the inhabitants of the southern border villages are expressing their pain at the state's abandonment of its duties and responsibilities towards them."

These inhabitants "suffer, young and old, the weight of the policy imposed on them," he stated.

Rai quoted what he described as testimonies from southerners, who criticize in particular the fact that, as a result of the bombings, their children are "deprived of education and entertainment."

"My family and I refuse to be hostages, human shields and scapegoats for the failure of Lebanese politics and for the culture of death that only leads our country to more false victories and shameful defeats," he added, quoting a testimony.

Since Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah, which is widely deployed south of the Litani River, has claimed responsibility for several attacks a day against Israeli positions, while villages in the border strip are regularly bombed by Israel.

Since the start of hostilities, the party has announced the death of 171 of its fighters in Syria and in Lebanon.

"We hear these testimonies and our hearts bleed. We are doing everything in our power to help these people," concluded the patriarch.

'The holiest war'

Rai's veiled criticism of Hezbollah and the authorities provoked an outcry.

The Jaafarite mufti Ahmad Kabalan, close to the party, considered that the expression "the culture of death" is "the culture of those who care nothing for the homeland, sovereignty or the massacre of a people."

Without quoting the Maronite patriarch, he issued a scathing statement attacking "those who are stabbing the holiest and most important war on the southern front."

"This war is the greatest for sovereignty," he added. "The people of the South need no one's testimony" and "today, the southern front is a national norm, so that Lebanon remains Lebanon and future generations continue to speak Arabic and not Hebrew," the Mufti said.

"Death on the southern front is therefore proof of a life lived for the homeland, a state, a people and institutions," he added.

Hezbollah supporters also expressed their criticism on social networks, where the hashtag "Patriarch of the collabos" [with Israel] was commonly used by many of them on Sunday afternoon.

"Tell the Patriarch that without the resistance in the South and Hezbollah, it would have been like Gaza," wrote one X user.

This article was originally published by L'Orient-Le Jour.