Father Pierre killed in Lebanon war after refusing to leave his parish
A Maronite priest died today in Qlayaa, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, after it was hit by Israeli artillery. He had chosen to remain with his community despite an evacuation order, as military operations intensify in the war between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Qlayaa (AsiaNews) – A Christian priest was killed today in southern Lebanon when Israel shelled Qlayaa, a Maronite village of about 8,000 residents in Marjeyoun District, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
The victim, Father Pierre el-Rahi, was at home at the time of the attack after refusing, along with other parish priests, to leave the area upon receiving an Israeli evacuation order.
According to information gathered by French-language Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour, the cleric died from wounds sustained from a shell, while four other people were injured.
A shell hit a house located in the eastern part of the village, a Christian community previously considered relatively safe. Qlayaa's mayor, Hanna Daher, said that residents cannot explain the reasons for the attack.
“We don't know why our village was targeted. The attack is unclear. Qlayaa is a safe place,” he said. “The house that was hit is located at the eastern end of the village. We first heard an explosion, and then residents saw smoke rising from a house to the east. Everyone rushed to the scene.”
The mayor said that rescuers found several wounded people inside the building. “When we arrived, we found that the house had been hit by artillery fire and that there were wounded inside,” he explained. “While we were trying to evacuate people, a second shell exploded in the house. We narrowly avoided a massacre because there were so many of us there.”
Father Pierre el-Rahi died from his wounds. A few days ago, an Israeli drone also killed Sami Ghafari, 70, while he was in the garden of his home. He was the brother of Father Maroun Ghafari, parish priest of Alma Shaab, another cleric who refused to evacuate to defend the Christian village's neutrality in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hanna Daher also said no armed groups occupied the house that was hit. “It's said that there were fighters in the house, but that's not true. Those are lies,” he said. “Inside there were only the residents of the house and people from the village who had come to help the wounded.”
The mayor also reiterated that the local population does not intend to leave the village despite growing tensions.
“We are peaceful people and we don't harm anyone. All we ask is to be able to stay in our homes in peace,” he said. “We don't know if there's a plan to force us to leave our lands, but we will stay here and not leave.”
The situation in southern Lebanon has further deteriorated following Hezbollah's decision to join the war that Israel and the United States launched against Iran.
Israeli bombings have increased in the past few days, and, according to local sources, increasingly, civilian homes are being hit, while hundreds of thousands of people have already been displaced.
.png)
