Title: The Shepherd: No One in Lebanon Wants the War to Extend to the South

The Maronite Patriarch Beshara Raï expressed his sorrow over the end of the truce in Gaza and how the innocent people bear the consequences of the devastating war, questioning, "What is the meaning of a humanitarian truce if it is a prelude to a fierce war after a respite?" In his sermon during the divine liturgy in Bkerke, he emphasized that "no one in Lebanon wants the war to extend to the south and to our safe Lebanese people there. If it extends to the south, God forbids, no one knows where it will stop or what victims and destruction it will leave behind. We pray to God to keep it away from us." He insisted that "the Lebanese people cannot be forced to bear the burdens of a war in which they have no part." He continued, "We pray that the officials in Lebanon realize their obligation to listen, contemplate, and speak in order to break out of the cocoon of their interests and come together to discuss the reasons behind the stagnation and mutual distrust." He viewed the failure to elect a president and the closure of the presidential palace as a heinous crime leading to the destruction of constitutional institutions, public administrations, and the spread of chaos and corruption, distorting Lebanon's civilized face.