Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi said in his Sunday sermon that he had received a letter from residents of the Christian border villages in the south, describing it as a cry. Lebanon24 and IMLebanon reported this on 8 November 2026. He said the letter contains ten demands, which he described as urgent and legitimate.
IMLebanon quoted al-Rahi as saying that these demands will occupy a large part of the deliberations of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops. According to IMLebanon, the council will meet in Bkerke for one week, starting the day after the sermon.
On another domestic matter, al-Rahi said, according to IMLebanon, that this week's developments in the electricity and public utilities file reveal a malfunction. Citizens pay the price of this mismanagement.
Al-Rahi also addressed the Dahr el-Baidar explosives case. According to IMLebanon, he said the case has entered a new judicial phase. He called for the investigation to take its course, free from political exploitation.
On the national level, al-Rahi stated, according to IMLebanon, that Lebanon needs comprehensive peace, free from threats of a new war. He said this requires a state that controls its own decisions and a single national security authority that controls decisions on war and peace. He added that the neutrality of Lebanon is important.
The declared sender of the letter is residents of the Christian border villages in the south. However, the names or specific parties that signed the letter or delivered it have not yet been identified, and the ten demands in it have not been specified. Details of the Dahr el-Baidar explosives case, and of its new judicial phase, have also not emerged.