Along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, three Christian villages have found themselves caught on the front line of a war they neither chose nor supported.
Ain Ebel, Rmeich and Debl, known locally as the “Delta of Resilience”, are the last inhabited Christian towns in Lebanon’s border region. Since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a full-scale war in 2024, residents have endured deaths, destruction and growing isolation from the rest of the country.
Today, even returning home has become a grueling journey. With the usual roads damaged or inaccessible, residents must travel in organized convoys through military checkpoints and Israeli-occupied territory, an ordeal some have come to call “road to Calvary.”
Convoys travel to the villages almost daily, usually accompanied by Caritas and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Carrying humanitarian assistance, they usually include approximately 30 cars and trucks. Yet a journey that once took around two hours from Beirut can now last 12 hours or more.
The day begins at approximately 5 a.m., and the convoy may not reach the villages until after 6 p.m. One of the first stops is a Lebanese Army checkpoint, where residents are required to remain inside their vehicles for hours. Meanwhile, the sound of airstrikes and the sight of their impact on the surrounding hills heighten the fear and tension.
The convoy then enters roads running through Israeli-occupied territory, where Israeli flags line the route. At Naqoura, residents can see the Mediterranean Sea, which they are no longer permitted to access, before another period of waiting begins. This can last for hours, with passengers prohibited from leaving their vehicles, even in the summer heat.
Vehicles making the journey back to the Christian villages of southern Lebanon. | Credit: Romy Haber/ACI MENA
Just feet away, Israeli soldiers can be seen inside buildings they have taken over, while Israeli military vehicles pass alongside the convoy. Many residents describe the experience as humiliating: They are in their own country, yet must wait for permission from a foreign military to reach their homes. As the hours pass, one question remains: Will the convoy be permitted to proceed, or will they be forced to return to Beirut after an entire day of waiting?
If permission is finally granted, the last stage of the journey begins. Residents travel along severely damaged roads, past destroyed houses and through routes that require vehicles capable of navigating the difficult terrain, before finally reaching their villages.
Many of those making the journey are elderly or ill and had been forced to travel to Beirut for medical treatment. Some underwent surgery only days earlier yet must spend long hours inside a vehicle under the sun, sometimes without enough water or access to a bathroom.
Others travel to the capital for life’s most basic necessities. Pregnant women go to Beirut to give birth and then make the difficult return journey with their newborn babies, while parents travel to enroll their children in universities. The convoys often transport livestock, including pigs and cattle, some of which have died after being kept for hours in the intense heat.
Maroun Louka, a father who was waiting in a convoy with his wife and children after a medical emergency forced the family to travel to Beirut, told ACI MENA the hardship begins even before the journey itself, with the registration of names and the wait for approval.
“We are suffering greatly,” he said. “Sometimes we wait an entire week to receive approval and be able to return to our village.”
“My uncle and my cousin were killed. Our homes were damaged, as were my brothers’ homes,” Louka continued. “I cannot even reach my olive press or my house. Life is extremely harsh and difficult.”
Asked why he was determined to return, Louka said his family had no alternative. “Our parents and grandparents are deeply rooted in this village. They spent their lives here, and some were killed and buried here. Can we, today, simply come and abandon it? No. Leaving it would be extremely difficult.”
While the journey reveals the harsh realities of war and occupation, it also reflects the faith, strength and resilience of those who continue to live in these villages.
Father Najib al-Amil, a priest in Rmeish, told ACI MENA that the Church has played a central role in helping residents remain on their land.
“Through our homilies, we encouraged the people and led them in prayer,” he said. “Every day, we prayed the rosary and held Eucharistic adoration.”
The priests also encouraged parish groups to remain active by visiting the sick, checking on families and assisting the poor and others in need.
Asked how the Vatican has supported the community, Father al-Amil pointed to the presence of Archbishop Paolo Borgia, the apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, whom he calls “the saintly nuncio.”
“Despite the danger, the strikes and the shelling, he continued to come,” the priest said. “He insisted on reaching us here, sitting with the people, speaking with them and celebrating Mass with us.”
The resilience of these communities is also sustained by Catholic organizations providing the material assistance families need to remain in their homes.
Father Samir Ghaoui, president of Caritas Lebanon, said there had been a clear decision by the Maronite Church and the wider Catholic Church to stand beside these Christian villages, and ensure that their essential needs were met.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have not abandoned them. Our decision was that we would stand beside every Christian household that chose to remain in its home and on its land. We will try to provide everything they need,” Father Ghaoui said. “They have the right to live with dignity in their own homes and with their families.”
He expressed hope that residents would one day be able to support themselves once again through their own work.
“But as long as there is war and as long as there is need, we at Caritas, in the name of the Church, will remain beside them,” he said. “Whatever the difficulties, we will continue finding a way to reach them.”
This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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