Maronite Patriarch criticizes Hezbollah's role in Lebanon

During the national Maronite conference in Jbeil, Maronite Patriarch Béchara Raï implicitly criticized Hezbollah on Saturday, suggesting that the group is dragging Lebanon into a war with Israel that the Lebanese people do not desire.

Raï highlighted the ongoing support of Hezbollah for Hamas during the conflict in Gaza, where the Shiite party has engaged with Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.

"We are in a war that the Lebanese people do not want, but which is decided by a party that involves the country, the South, and the Lebanese who still suffer from the consequences of the Lebanese civil war," criticized Bishop Raï during the conference.

Raï also criticized the political deadlock in Lebanon, highlighting the failure to elect a president for more than a year and a half, which he deemed as a blatant violation of the constitution.

"The reasons are known: to exclude the only Maronite Christian president in this Orient. We question the legitimacy of a Parliament that does not have the prerogative to legislate, the practice of an outgoing government that does not have the power to appoint high officials, a prerogative that belongs solely to the president," he added, taking a jab at parliamentary leader Nabih Berry and Prime Minister Nagib Mikati.

The Maronite Patriarch's comments come after Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), urged the Maronite Patriarchate to bring together Christian leaders to speak out against the deliberate exclusion faced by the Christian component of the country.

The ongoing political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon underscore the challenges facing the country in achieving stability and resolving its governance issues.