QLAYAA, Lebanin, Dec 23 ― In the Lebanese Christian border village of Qlayaa, the priest urged his parish to maintain the Christmas spirit alive regardless of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel forcing many to flee.
Nestled amongst lush, inexperienced fields and flowing olive groves, Qlayaa has echoed to the sound of bombing on an virtually day by day foundation since October 7.
“Of course we’re upset and bothered by the battle… however we need to really feel the enjoyment of Christmas,” father Pierre Rai instructed a dwindling variety of parishioners in Qlayaa’s Maronite Saint George Church.“So lengthy as we’ve determined to stay in this village, and in different southern Lebanon border villages, we should stay and luxuriate in every factor in its proper time.”
For practically three months, Israeli rockets have been falling near Qlayaa, which lies lower than 5 kilometres from the border.
So far, nonetheless, the Christian villages in the world have been spared destruction.
Since hostilities started, greater than 140 individuals have been killed on the Lebanese facet, most of them Hezbollah fighters but additionally together with greater than a dozen civilians, three of them journalists, in line with an eNM tally.
On the Israeli facet, a minimum of 4 civilians and eight troopers have been killed, in line with officers.
Despite the violence, the church has put up lights, a life-sized manger and is planning recitals and actions for the group’s kids.
An enormous Christmas tree adorned with purple ornaments sits in the village’s empty sq., with reindeer statues close by.
Faithful attend a Christmas mass at a church in the village of Qlayaa, on the southern border with Israel, on December 21, 2023, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as preventing continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. ― eNM pic
‘Rather die right here’
Lebanon’s south is residence to a plethora of spiritual communities, however it’s primarily dominated by the highly effective, Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah motion.
The area was battered by a years-long Israeli occupation that ended in 2000 and once more in the 2006 battle between Hezbollah and Israel.
Residents alongside the border are used to “troublesome instances”, stated father Antonios Farah, “however we’ve determined that this yr we are going to have a good time Christmas as common”.
“This is our technique to pray for peace,” he stated, dressed in a black gown and sitting in the church.
The streets of the small village are often bustling with guests round Christmas, when lots of these residing overseas return.
But this yr, “solely about 60 per cent of the village inhabitants remains to be right here” with not one of the expatriates coming residence, he stated, including that the streets have been abandoned after dusk.
According to up to date figures from the International Organization for Migration, the hostilities have displaced greater than 72,000 individuals in Lebanon, most of them in the nation’s south.
Qlayaa resident Suzy Salameh, 47, has put up a voluminous tree in her residence and stated she was praying for peace.
“We try to have a good time Christmas regardless of… the battle, the bombings,” she stated, standing beside a conifer adorned with silver ornaments, garlands and purple lights.
“God keen, the start of Jesus will result in peace in our nation and in all of the international locations round us.”
But not everybody in the village was so optimistic.
In a home near the church, Layla Wana sat alone together with her husband beneath a giant Christmas tree.
“We’re not feeling the Christmas spirit in any respect,” stated Wana, 67, dressed in a black tracksuit.
“Some of our kids are overseas, others are in Beirut,” she stated.
“But we are going to stay in our home and we is not going to depart, even when it means we are going to die right here.” ― eNM
