Christian Front condemns insults made on Al-Manar targeting Syriac Maronite Patriarch al-Rai as attacks on Lebanese identity
BEIRUT — In a strongly worded statement underscoring Lebanon’s deep political and sectarian divides, the Christian Front condemned a media campaign targeting Syriac Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rai, declaring that any attack on the Church amounts to “a declaration of war on Lebanon’s identity and existence.”
The statement came in response to comments made by media personality Souheil Diab on Al-Manar, a television channel affiliated with Iran-backed Hezbollah — an organization designated as a terrorist group by several countries.
Diab launched a blistering attack on Patriarch al-Rai, employing language described as unprecedented in its severity. Addressing the Patriarch directly, Diab said:
“Even you, the grand rabbi? You’ve returned from the silence of the grave to your vile ways — unleashing your malice, venom, and hatred against the Resistance that protected your country and spared it the shame you embraced when you threw yourselves into the arms of the enemy, enlisted among its agents, and justified betrayal under the false pretense of protection. This Resistance will continue to choke every traitor, even if they hide behind a cloak of false religion. The Resistance’s survival is tied to Lebanon’s survival, no matter how many tyrants of the earth gather — O man of resentment …”
The Christian Front strongly backed Patriarch al-Rai’s recent remarks affirming the Lebanese Army as the sole legitimate authority responsible for national security, while rejecting Iranian interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.
In its statement, the group said the Patriarch’s stance reflects “a sincere national will” to preserve civil peace and prevent Lebanon from sliding into conflict.
Referring to Beth Kerke (Bkerki) — the seat of the Syriac Maronite Church and symbolically known as the “Glory of Lebanon” — as an untouchable national cornerstone, the Front condemned the attacks on the Patriarch as part of “a systematic approach by the statelet of arms and its mouthpieces.” It accused them of seeking to subjugate the Lebanese people and co-opt state institutions and religious authorities to serve a foreign agenda “utterly disconnected from Lebanon’s identity.”

The Christian Front called on sovereign forces and “free Christians” to mobilize in the streets and through civil action to defend Patriarch al-Rai and Beth Kerke. It also held the Lebanese state, its president, and the government responsible for confronting “incitement rhetoric that threatens civil peace and undermines coexistence.”
At the heart of the controversy lies Lebanon’s deep divide between those who view Hezbollah’s weapons as a safeguard against Israel and those who see them as an obstacle to building a sovereign, independent state.
Historically, Beth Kerke has advocated for state sovereignty and the exclusivity of arms in the hands of legitimate institutions — a stance Patriarch al-Rai continues to uphold amid Lebanon’s worsening political and economic crisis.
The Front concluded with a defiant message:
“Lebanon will not be governed by the fatwas of weapons or the insults of mouthpieces. Lebanon is a nation of sovereignty and freedom, and Beth Kerke will remain the rock of truth upon which the illusions of the statelet and its voices shatter. Glory to the Patriarch, glory to Beth Kerke, glory to a free, sovereign, independent Lebanon.”