In a Sunday sermon in mid-September, Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai lashed out at those who seek to destabilize the country from within. It was mere days before a wave of communication devices caused thousands of injuries and dozens of deaths among Hezbollah members, plunging Lebanon into chaos, pushing its healthcare system to the brink of collapse and prompting the terror group to fire 100 rockets at northern Israel in retaliation on Saturday night.
“There are factions in our society that wish for Lebanon to be a vacant land, where they can implement their plans without the interference of a state, laws, or a constitution. They prefer it to be real estate, not a homeland,” he said during a sermon in the northern city of Mayfouk, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
“When each group starts feeling that Lebanon belongs to someone else, Lebanon no longer belongs to anyone. It becomes a piece of land divided among invaders who plunder a country they do not own,” he continued, without explicitly naming Hezbollah or Iran.
The Maronite patriarch is no stranger to publicly condemning Hezbollah, a group that has built a state within a state. With a militia estimated to be larger than the Lebanese army, its own banking system and welfare institutions, and even its own supermarkets, Hezbollah has hijacked Lebanese politics and public life. In the 2022 elections, the terror group won 13 seats, but the political bloc backing it secured 62 out of 128 seats in parliament.
According to Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, the presidency must be held by a Maronite, the majority Christian denomination in the country, affiliated with the Catholic pope. For nearly two years, Hezbollah has held Lebanon in a political gridlock by blocking any attempt to elect a president other than its preferred candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, the grandson of a previous president.
The patriarch has long voiced his discontent with Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts. Since Hezbollah initiated hostilities with Israel on October 8, his rebukes have become a staple of his public speeches.
His criticism has also extended to Israel. This Sunday he expressed “profound sorrow over the devastating toll inflicted upon Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes,” describing them as “devoid of humanity.”
????Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai on Sunday criticized those seeking to make Lebanon a country "without a state, laws, or a constitution," and honoring the "martyrs of the Lebanese resistance" from the Lebanese Forces (LF).https://t.co/VE9Gt8soXk
— Çağatay Cebe (@Mucagcebe) September 15, 2024
In a previous sermon on August 25, Rai lamented the marginalization of Maronites in the Lebanese state.
“The country is facing the most dangerous phase in its history. We must remember Lebanon’s golden age, during which power was in the hands of the Maronites,” he said, as reported by the Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour.
‘The country is facing the most dangerous phase in its history’
Lebanon expert Col. (ret.) Jacques Neriah, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs, highlighted the central role assumed by the patriarch in the opposition to Hezbollah.
“Rai is a beacon that can rally Christians around him. They see him as a religious authority who is preserving the Christian character of Lebanon today,” said Neriah.
“His speeches can be more political than religious. He asks Christians to unite and not to follow the trend of going after Hezbollah,” Neriah added.
The Syriac Maronite Patriarch in Lebanon demand to take off all Hezbollah missiles implanted within civilian communities in South Lebanon. These missiles is risking civilians because Israel response to take them down is harming the people around them. Example of human shield. pic.twitter.com/b2nytqSx7z
— Shadi khalloul שאדי ח'לול (@shadikhalloul) December 31, 2023
A divided community
Once the backbone of Lebanese society, Christians have seen their numbers and their influence progressively reduced in the past decades.
Lebanon’s historic geographical core, Mount Lebanon, was once an autonomous Christian-majority area under Ottoman rule. When the French Mandate took control after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, other Muslim-majority regions were incorporated, gradually giving shape to the modern country of Lebanon. The geographic area was expanded, but the Christian population was reduced as a percentage.
After gaining independence in 1943, Lebanon had to grapple with balancing its complex religious mosaic, which includes Maronite and Orthodox Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Druze, Armenians, Alawis, and other minorities. The constitution guarantees representation for 18 distinct religious groups in the government, military, and civil service.
The three highest offices — the president, prime minister, and speaker of Parliament — are shared between a Maronite Christian, a Sunni Muslim, and a Shiite Muslim
The three highest offices — the president, prime minister, and speaker of Parliament — are shared between a Maronite Christian, a Sunni Muslim, and a Shiite Muslim, respectively. However, this power-sharing system has devolved into one of patronage and corruption.
No national census has been conducted since 1932 to avoid upsetting the delicate power balance, but it is widely believed that the Christian population has dwindled significantly, now making up about one-third of the population, while the Muslim, particularly the Shiite, population has surged.
To complicate matters further, Christians are also divided in their political loyalties. While the smaller Orthodox Christian community is generally pro-Syrian and thus supportive of Hezbollah, Maronites are split.
The Maronite Lebanese Forces party, led by Samir Geagea, is Hezbollah’s most significant Christian opponent, holding 18 seats in parliament. It is allied with the smaller Kataeb (Phalanges) Party, which holds four seats and is led by Samy Gemayel.
Both leaders have been vocal critics of Hezbollah and of its military actions against Israel, which risk dragging the country into a prolonged and destructive conflict.
‘Hezbollah made the decision to go to war with Israel without asking for permission from anyone’
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, however, has dismissed their critiques. In an August 6 address, he accused his domestic opponents of enjoying “restaurants and leisure activities” while Hezbollah’s members sacrificed themselves fighting in the south. “We are keen on the security of our country and our infrastructure, and we bear the brunt of the burden so that not many people are affected,” Nasrallah said.
Still, the terror group opened hostilities against Israel unilaterally on October 8 — after Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel the previous day — without consulting with any other party or government authority, which sparked outrage among many Lebanese, particularly Christians.
“Hezbollah made the decision to go to war with Israel without asking for permission from anyone. This has fueled Christian criticism, but they lack the means to challenge the group,” said Neriah. “Hezbollah is far more powerful. Christians don’t have tanks or missiles; they must work within the system.”
Hezbollah has the backing of two Maronite parties: the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Marada.
The former was founded by former president Michel Aoun, and is led by Aoun’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil. In the 2022 elections, it gained 18 seats, but since then, a number of its members have left or have been purged by Bassil.
Marada, whose base is in the north of the country, is a pro-Syrian and pro-Hezbollah party. It only has two seats in parliament, but its leader Suleiman Frangieh is Hezbollah’s preferred candidate for the presidency.
Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022, following Aoun’s departure, due to anti-Hezbollah factions’ strong opposition to Frangieh’s candidacy.
A Lebanese Christian calls for friendship with Israel
Salah (not his real name), a lifelong Maronite political activist now living in France, spoke about the split within his community with The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity.
Salah used to be a party member of the FPM, but left it after it officially endorsed Hezbollah’s military activities and updated its statute to say that it considers Hezbollah’s use of weapons as “resistance,” in 2005.
‘The Maronites are losing because of traitors within’
“The Maronites are losing because of traitors within,” he lamented, referencing various historic leaders of the community who since the early 1980s refused to sign a peace agreement with Israel, thereby acting against the community’s interests, in Salah’s view, and empowering Hezbollah.
“The greatest treachery,” Salah said, was the alliance that FPM founder Michel Aoun forged with the Shiite terror group in 2005, which brought many Maronites into Hezbollah’s fold. Thousands were persuaded by receiving jobs in the administration, he added.
However, the activist assessed that many FPM members are now disillusioned, recognizing Hezbollah as an occupying force aligned with Iran that aims to turn Lebanon into an Islamic republic.
In recent months, four FPM lawmakers resigned or were purged over disagreements with Bassil’s leadership. Since 2015, about a dozen prominent party members have quit.
In early September, the four met with Patriarch Rai in the latter’s summer residence in northern Lebanon to discuss breaking the presidential deadlock and strengthening Christian unity, L’Orient Le Jour reported, in what could represent a significant shift in the politics of Christian parties. The four have been discussing the creation of a new political entity.
Speaking for his faction within the Maronite community, Salah longed for a future where terror group Hezbollah no longer dominates Lebanese life.
“We don’t have any problem with Israel and the people of Israel,” he said. “We don’t just want peace with Israel — we want friendship.”
