“The situation we are experiencing in Deir Mimas is dramatic. Our village overlooks the Litani River that flows further down the valley” where Hezbollah militants are holed up. “We are two kilometers from the Israeli city of Metula and the nearby Kyriat Shimona, right on the border between Israel and Lebanon. Deir Mimas has 3,000 inhabitants, all Christians of various denominations, Catholics, Orthodox, Greek Catholics and Protestants. Of these, 1,200 lived there all year round. Today, because of the war, there are only 180. Along the valley there is another inhabited center, Kfarkela, almost completely razed to the ground by the bombings.”

Father Toufic Bou Mehri , superior of the Franciscan convent of Tyre , tells SIR the story of this Lebanese village . A strong bond keeps the friar of the Custody united in Deir Mimas where every Sunday he travels by car from Tyre, 30 kilometers away, despite rockets and bombs, to celebrate Holy Mass with the few remaining faithful and to deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to those in greatest difficulty. But we also assist, with my brother Father Pierre, those who have taken refuge in Beirut because of the war.

Between two fires: A village between two fires, on one side the Israeli bombs and on the other Hezbollah with its rockets. “There is a lot of fear,” says the friar of the Custody of the Holy Land. “The landscape of Deir Mimas is increasingly marked by columns of smoke that rise after each launch of bombs and rockets between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militias.

The crosses that adorn the houses and fields of the Christians here are like a defence against evil and 'an act of entrustment to God' of the entire village.

In recent days the bombs have fallen a few hundred meters from the first houses and our small convent. In the past weeks rockets and bombs fell in the fields, now they have shortened the shooting range. To avoid the escalation of this war, diplomats are busy trying to obtain a retreat of pro-Iranian Hezbollah to the north, beyond the northern bank of the Litani River. But so far without success.

Burnt fields: “Those who were able to leave these areas went to Beirut,” explains Father Toufic, “so the poorest and most vulnerable remained here. For a few weeks now, however, we have been witnessing the return of some families who are no longer able to support themselves financially in the Lebanese capital. This is a significant decision: choosing to die with dignity in the village where you were born and not die of hunger elsewhere.” With the war, another problem has now been added to the village. Some local sources who wish to remain anonymous explained it to SIR: “Here in Deir Mimas we live off agriculture and olive groves, and oil. In 2023, the village was awarded the prize for best oil producer in Lebanon.”

"This year we will have a lot of difficulty selling our olives and our oil because it seems that Israel has also launched phosphorus bombs. The aim would be to burn the fields where the Hezbollah militias are hiding."

In the same swamp as Gaza: “In Lebanon we are in the same swamp as Gaza where the gravity and intensity of the war is certainly greater than what we see here on the border between Israel and Lebanon,” admits Father Toufic. “In the Land of the Cedars, over 120,000 Lebanese have been displaced from the border areas and those who remain do so not for the love of risk but because they have no money. The material, social and political conditions in which the Land of the Cedars finds itself – economically bankrupt – are extremely serious. There are also two million Syrian refugees and 500,000 Palestinians. Everything is lacking, even security. People live in constant risk.

People are shouting 'enough!' they can't take it anymore

Especially the population of South Lebanon. Here people are humanly close to their brothers in Gaza, but they wonder why they have to pay the bill for a war that no one wants. Here they just want to live in peace and with dignity.”