Lebanon: A Story of Humiliation and an Epic of Steadfastness

Professor Dr. Michel Abs,

Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches,

Lebanon, a nation plagued by decades of crises, has now been engulfed in a devastating war, destroying cities, villages, and uprooting its people. The spiral of violence has exacerbated the wounds inflicted upon Lebanon, with foreign perpetrators continuing the destructive work begun by domestic ones.

The Lebanese people are in a dire state, their homeland and society in ruins. Recent events have dealt a final blow to their remaining hope for a better future. This once ambitious and courageous people have become seekers of shelter, food, and medicine, and their lives reduced to a desperate struggle for survival. Many Lebanese have been forced to leave their homes, searching for a place to sleep, often resorting to the open streets or the hills of garbage that fill the capital.

The intensified fighting has plunged Lebanon into widespread social chaos, compounded by the terror of airstrikes, assassinations, and the staggering number of victims. The Lebanese people live in a state of denial, their acquired helplessness preventing them from rebelling against the imposed realities.

Their savings have been looted from banks, public funds have been plundered, the national debt is soaring, corruption has infiltrated the state, taxes are burdensome, unemployment is rampant, emigration affects all segments of the population, and poverty is spreading. This war, unlike any Lebanon has witnessed in its modern history, is marked by the diversity and lethality of its weapons. The daily exchange of fire claims countless Lebanese lives, both through direct targeting and accidental casualties.

Walking through Lebanon's cities and villages today, one cannot ignore the profound violation of dignity among the Lebanese people. Their patience and resilience have been tested to the extreme, as they endure the burdens of time's vice-deputies.

The Lebanese people are writing an epic of steadfastness, demonstrating their ability to persevere and overcome challenges in the face of daily humiliation. Their suffering, unparalleled in thousands of years, has only strengthened their resolve.

They are beyond the myth of the Phoenix, the Anqa, which rises again from its ashes. They are children of hope, children of resurrection.