While the parties work towards a ceasefire, the pro-Iranian party remains opposed to "direct negotiations" with the Jewish state. Lebanon’s capital is experiencing hours of relative calm, but tensions remain in the south. The Druze House hosts a summit of religious leaders. Among the population, a growing consensus calls for peace with the Israelis and normalisation of relations.

Scores have died in Israeli attacks in the south of the country, including across the Litani River. Israel aims to expand the territory it controls by up to 30 kilometres. So far, the capital, Beirut, has been spared, since the United States has designated it “off-limits”. A new round of talks is scheduled for 2 and 3 June in Washington, where the Lebanese delegation will insist on the need for an immediate and simultaneous cessation of hostilities.

Pope Leo XIV has authorised the decree on the miracle. Speaking to AsiaNews, Sister Marie-Antoinette Saadé, superior of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, describes him as the architect of “the historic vocation of Greater Lebanon”.The beatification will be a “providential and prophetic sign” of a “pluralistic, free” country. Bishop of Batroun: “God’s grace at a time when Lebanon’s identity and integrity are under threat”.

In Lebanon, the first assembly of the “khouriyètes”, the affectionate term for the wives of married priests. A “virtuous revolution” for the Maronite Church, promoted by the bishops of Antelias and Batroun and supported by the patriarch. A message of encouragement from Cardinal Mario Grech: “Be faithful to your vocation”.

Whilst the third round of talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors is underway in Washington, people continue to die in the south. Reflections from the AsiaNews correspondent: “Faced with threats and provocations that seek to normalise war, today we need responses rooted in our deepest culture and ethical principles”.

Lebanon’s south is now a battlefield where a regular army equipped with tanks and planes and guerrillas armed with rockets and drones hunt each other with no regard for the suffering of the local population. Beirut's Sports City is now a vast dormitory for refugees. President Aoun is gambling his political fate on talks, while Hezbollah attacks him with a smear campaign.