‘Missiles are flying over our heads’: bishops describe Israeli invasion of Lebanon
March 04, 2026
As the Iran conflict widened, Israel invaded Lebanon in retaliation for attacks by Hezbollah forces that are based in southern Lebanon.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reported that Israeli missiles rained down on the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, located 150 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border.
“Evacuation warnings were reportedly sent to around 50 villages, prompting thousands of families onto the roads,” ACN stated. “Highways out of southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut were quickly overwhelmed.”
In Sidon, Lebanon’s third-largest city, Melkite Archbishop Elie Bechara Haddad said that “missiles are flying over our heads.”
Melkite Archbishop Georges Iskandar of Tyre said:
People are exhausted; they fear for their children and their future; they yearn for a simple and ordinary life: that a child may go to school without fear, that an elderly person may sleep peacefully in his home, that a father and mother may work for their daily bread in dignity.
As the shepherd of this local Church, my foremost concern is to remain close to these innocent people: to be present among them, to listen to their suffering, to pray with them, and to remind them that their dignity is safeguarded in the sight of God, and that Christian hope is not built upon balances of power but upon faith in the Lord of history, who wills peace for His people.
Maronite Bishop Hanna Rahmé of Baalbek-Deir Al-Ahmar said that the Church is providing shelter to those fleeing the attacks.
“They are our people; we will take care of them with what we have,” he said.
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