Lebanese Christians refusing to flee war zone, fearing occupation of homeland

Southern Lebanon’s Christian communities rejected Israeli evacuation orders, saying they fear permanent displacement amid hostilities, according to a Beirut migrant shelter leader.

“We know for a fact that many of the Christians, in particular the poorest and some of the older Christians, made the decision to not leave southern Lebanon,” Jesuit Father Daniel Corrou told “EWTN News Nightly” in a March 10 interview. Corrou oversees a public shelter for migrant workers in the southern suburbs of Beirut and is the regional director of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Their fear was that if they did leave, that they would never be able to get their land back again, that it would be occupied by some group — whether it was Israeli, or whether it was other local groups here,” he said.

The interview comes after Father Pierre El-Rahi, a Maronite priest in southern Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli bombing on March 9.

“The Israelis have asked for a mass evacuation from all of southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River,” Corrou said. “They did the same for Dahieh, a neighborhood in southern Beirut — there were 700,000 people in the area where they forced a mass evacuation. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced as a result.”

Corrou described hearing drone strikes overhead “all day long,” saying: “This is our reality.”

The priest said while many Lebanese Christians in the south have refused to abandon their homes, “in order to maintain the Christian presence along the border with Israel,” many refugees and migrant workers and refugees from countries including Sudan, Yemen, and Sri Lanka, have sought safety at his shelter.

He emphasized the vulnerability of this demographic, noting that they lack the support system most Lebanese people have through their families, communities, or political organizations.

“The one thing that they have is their faith community,” he said.

“For 40 years, the Christians here have known this church to be a safe haven,” Corrou said. “When things go bad, they have for 40 or 50 years shown up on our doorstep. As they’ve done before, they brought their Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim brothers and sisters with them.”

“That’s what happened on early Monday morning when the war began again,” he said. “As it had happened in 2024, they showed up on our doorstep, and unfortunately, we were ready and happy to welcome them, but it’s a terrible circumstance.”