Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai in the Christian border village of Debel on Aug. 10, 2025. (Photo taken from the Bkirki Facebook page)
A 30-minute interview with Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai on the Saudi channel Al Arabiya was enough to once again inflame tensions between him and Hezbollah. Since Tuesday evening, the prelate has been the target of a smear campaign on social media by Hezbollah supporters. Some went so far as to brand him “the patriarch of the agents [in Israel’s pay].”Hezbollah’s grassroots were reacting to the patriarch’s particularly sharp remarks against the party, which he accused of having “emptied the resistance of its meaning.” He argued that Shiites were fed up with Hezbollah’s arsenal and said the party must “think of its Lebanese identity.”Rai reiterated his long-standing positions on Hezbollah’s weapons.It was not the first time his remarks provoked the ire of the group’s supporters. This time, however, the timing and the intensity of his...
A 30-minute interview with Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai on the Saudi channel Al Arabiya was enough to once again inflame tensions between him and Hezbollah. Since Tuesday evening, the prelate has been the target of a smear campaign on social media by Hezbollah supporters. Some went so far as to brand him “the patriarch of the agents [in Israel’s pay].”Hezbollah’s grassroots were reacting to the patriarch’s particularly sharp remarks against the party, which he accused of having “emptied the resistance of its meaning.” He argued that Shiites were fed up with Hezbollah’s arsenal and said the party must “think of its Lebanese identity.”Rai reiterated his long-standing positions on Hezbollah’s weapons.It was not the first time his remarks provoked the ire of the group’s supporters. This time, however, the timing...
Israel kills 2 in southern Lebanon, shattering 3 days of relative calm