Israeli tank fire kills Lebanese priest who vowed to stay with congregation
By Charbel Mallo and Sana Noor Haq
Israeli shelling has killed a priest from Christian village in southern Lebanon – where local residents are pledging to stay after Israel’s military escalated evacuation calls and attacks in parts of the country.
Father Pierre al-Raai died on Monday after he and several other residents were injured by two separate Israeli attacks on the outskirts of Qlayaa, a village in Marjayoun district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
The village of Qlayaa had remained largely untouched by Israeli fire, which has killed at least 486 people across Lebanon since March 2, the country’s health ministry said on Monday. Before his death, Al-Raai promised to stay with fellow worshippers in the face of an Israeli evacuation call for everyone living south of Lebanon’s Litani River. The village was not explicitly outlined in the memo, but it lies below the Litani – just north of the border with Israel.
“We have never fled… And we will not flee now, either,” the priest had said in a voice message to local villagers, obtained by CNN on Monday. “I want to reiterate the same invitation: for those who are afraid, the church is open, and we welcome everyone until this crisis passes,” he added.
On Tuesday, the UN’s peacekeeping mission will evacuate civilians from the village of Alma al-Shaab – about 43 kilometers (27 miles) from Qlayaa – according to the mayor, Chadi Sayah, in a sign of the encroaching threat to local Christian communities. A man was killed in an Israeli raid there on Sunday, NNA said.
Last week, Sayah told worshippers, “We’re choosing to stay on our land.” “We want to live in peace,” he said in a Facebook video published on the official Alma al-Shaab parish page on March 4.
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/iran-war-us-israel-trump-03-09-26?post-id=cmmjm6bvp0000396s2esvj5ez
Three days ago, Father Pierre Al-Rai, the parish priest in the village of Al-Qlayaa in southern Lebanon, welcomed the Lebanese government’s recent decision declaring that any military or security activity outside the authority of the state is illegal—referring to the government’s… pic.twitter.com/BhxIk1rcGd
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 9, 2026
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