A shrine of the Virgin Mary vandalized in Shadra, Akkar, on June 7, 2025. (Credit: Our correspondent Michel Hallak)
A Virgin Mary shrine was vandalized on Saturday in the locality of Shadra, on the road leading to the Mar Yacoub Monastery in Akkar (northern Lebanon). According to information from our correspondent in the region, two motorcyclists allegedly threw a heavy stone at the small structure housing an icon of the Virgin and Child Jesus, thus breaking the glass of the door.
In response to the indignation of the residents, an investigation has been opened, although the motivations behind this act of vandalism remain unknown for the time being. Shadra's municipality, for its part, has filed a complaint with the competent security authorities.
This kind of incident is not rare in Lebanon. Religious statues are sometimes vandalized in different regions of the country, arousing the emotions of the faithful.
Last February, the destruction of a Virgin Mary statue in Sania, a village in the Jezzine district (southern Lebanon), raised concerns. Early in the year, several individuals were arrested for stealing saint figurines displayed in a Christmas grotto in Shadra, the same locality where Saturday's vandalism in Akkar occurred. In January 2024, three people arrested by the Internal Security Forces had burglarized and vandalized 10 churches in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. In April of the same year, the church of Kfar Habou, in the Minyeh-Dinnieh district (northern Lebanon), was vandalized with red paint graffiti including a phrase from the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith, "there is no god but God" on one side, and on the other side the word "Syria."