Report from the Redemptorist Community in Zahle, Lebanon
Rev. Elias Joseph Sader C.Ss.R.
July 20, 2006

Editor’s note: We received this communication from Father Elias on Wednesday afternoon. It has been edited for length and to facilitate informing you. The opinions expressed are those of Father Elias.

Fellow Redemptorists:

This is an attempt to share with you the situation in Lebanon at the moment and the situation of our Redemptorist mission in the Bekaa and in Beirut.

Today marks the seventh continuous day of Israeli bombings in Lebanon. According to the Ministry of Health, 240 Lebanese have been killed. 690 citizens have been injured, many of them permanently maimed. The Ministry of Defense reported that the bombs used in most regions are of a type internationally prohibited.

Displaced Lebanese people now number 500,000. They are particularly fleeing from the southern villages and the southern suburbs of Beirut. Refugees, numbering 60,000, are being sheltered in various public schools around Lebanon or in tents pitched in public parks. They are taken care of by the International Rescue Committee and the Red Cross, while others are finding shelter at monasteries, churches, or private charities.

Villages are under siege, the target of heavy bombing. Rescue teams are not able to help the injured or recover the dead. The bridges and roads leading to each village have been bombed with missiles creating craters 20 meters wide and 15 meters deep. The bulldozers trying to repair the craters are also being bombed.

Yesterday, every truck loaded with food or medical supplies was also a target of the bombing. So, many truck drivers are being killed for no reason and much needed supplies are going up in smoke. The Israelis claim that these trucks are carrying weapons from Syria to the Hezbollah. We disagree. Inside the city of Zahle, seven trucks were bombed. There was no concern that they were passing beside civilian homes, religious institutes, or cars filled with passengers. One of the trucks was bombed beside the "Sainte Famille" school administrated by Catholic nuns. A huge fire ensued. The truck was totally engulfed in flames along with all the donated medical supplies from the Arab Emirates. Seven people nearby the bombing and fire were injured and one of them died a few minutes later.

Truck drivers are refusing to drive. So refugees in the refugee centers are not receiving enough supplies. The Interior Security jeeps and the Red Cross vans are too small to transport the sufficient amount of supplies that large trucks are capable of carrying.

The bombing of factories has begun. The Israeli claim is that some of these factories are hiding weapons for the Hezbollah. But we know of one factory near us owned by a peace-loving Catholic that was bombed. Today five huge explosions shook the ground all over the city and a chicken farm was bombed. We deplore the destruction of innocent civilian enterprises needed to provide much needed food and services to our people at this critical time. As I write this, five families are buried in the wreckage of their homes. No one can rescue them because the bombing continues unabated. We may suffer soon from epidemics due to the fact that many bodies are not being recovered and buried.

This is how we see it: The war started after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah. We understand that the Israeli Government needs to maintain the confidence of the Israeli people, especially after its failure to recover the kidnapped soldier in Gaza. But it is our understanding that the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah were given orders by their commanding officers to patrol near the Israeli-Lebanese border with the knowledge that the Hezbollah were seeking to kidnap Israeli soldiers for the purpose of an exchange for Lebanese and Arab detainees in Israeli prisons. We believe the Israeli government put these soldiers at risk in order to have an excuse to invade Lebanon.

Today the Lebanese Army lost 4 Lieutenants and 7 soldiers, killed after a bombing on the Army headquarters in east Beirut. This is the fifth attack on army centers, killing highly trained and educated army personnel at the same time the Israeli government claims that it wants the army's presence in the south of Lebanon to protect its Northern borders.

The Redemptorist Community in the Bekaa is sheltering many refugee families, and due to what we mentioned above, we have a big shortage of food and medication. The situation is getting worse everyday. We wonder whether we are being put through another “Massada”?

We would like to ask for any help in the form of funds and supplies and ask the world to convey our predicament to as many people as possible. The Church leaders of Lebanon are sending the same cry. Your voice can make the military leaders, governments and world public opinion understand the importance of creating a "secure passage" for food and medical supplies

(Editor’s note: Units and confreres wishing to help our confreres in Lebanon, please send your donation in care of the Econome Generale in Rome and reference it to: Aid for Lebanon.)