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Pope Arrives in Lebanon in a Bid to Bring Hope to a War-wracked Region

Pope Leo XIV waves while boarding the papal plane at Ataturk Airport, as he departs from Türkiye to Lebanon during his first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Türkiye, November 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan
Pope Leo XIV waves while boarding the papal plane at Ataturk Airport, as he departs from Türkiye to Lebanon during his first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Türkiye, November 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan
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Pope Arrives in Lebanon in a Bid to Bring Hope to a War-wracked Region

Pope Leo XIV waves while boarding the papal plane at Ataturk Airport, as he departs from Türkiye to Lebanon during his first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Türkiye, November 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan
Pope Leo XIV waves while boarding the papal plane at Ataturk Airport, as he departs from Türkiye to Lebanon during his first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Türkiye, November 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

Pope Leo XIV landed in Lebanon Sunday, where he aimed to bring a message of hope to its long-suffering people and bolster a crucial Christian community in the Middle East.
He arrived in Lebanon at a precarious moment for the small Mediterranean country after years of successive crises. He is fulfilling a promise of Pope Francis, who had wanted to visit for years, but was unable to as his health worsened.

Lebanon is the second leg of Leo's first official foreign trip after he first visited Türkiye.

Lebanon, which has the largest share of Christians in the Middle East, has been rocked by the spillover of the Gaza conflict, as Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah went to war, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.

Leaders in Lebanon, which hosts 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is also struggling to recover from years of economic crisis, are worried Israel will dramatically escalate its strikes in coming months. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday that he hoped Leo's visit would help bring an end to Israeli attacks.

Lebanon's diverse communities have also welcomed the papal trip, with leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna saying Lebanon "needs the glimmer of hope represented by this visit".

POPE VISITING FIVE LEBANESE CITIES AND TOWNS

Leo, a relative unknown on the world stage before becoming pope in May, is being closely watched as he makes his first speeches overseas and interacts for the first time with people outside mainly Catholic Italy. On Saturday, Leo visited Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque, in his first visit as pope to a Muslim place of worship. He removed his shoes in a sign of respect but did not pray at the mosque as planned, which appeared to surprise Vatican officials.

The pope attended an Orthodox Christian liturgy on Sunday morning led by Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's 260 million Orthodox Christians.

In remarks during the service, which was filled with Greek chants, Bartholomew said the world "expects a unified message of hope from Christians unequivocally condemning war and violence".

"We cannot be complicit in the bloodshed taking place in Ukraine and other parts of the world," said the patriarch. Leo, 70 and in good health, has a crowded itinerary in Lebanon, visiting five cities and towns from Sunday to Tuesday, when he returns to Rome. Leo will not travel to the south, the target of Israeli strikes.

His schedule includes a prayer at the site of a 2020 chemical explosion at the Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars' worth of damage. He will also lead an outdoor Mass on the Beirut waterfront and visit a psychiatric hospital, one of the few mental health facilities in Lebanon, where carers and residents are eagerly anticipating his arrival.

 

 

 

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Arab World

Israeli Military Kills Two in Raid, Says Palestinian Ministry

A man sits near a street in Jerusalem's Old City, following restrictions on large gatherings amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A man sits near a street in Jerusalem's Old City, following restrictions on large gatherings amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military Kills Two in Raid, Says Palestinian Ministry

A man sits near a street in Jerusalem's Old City, following restrictions on large gatherings amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A man sits near a street in Jerusalem's Old City, following restrictions on large gatherings amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men on Friday during a raid north of Jerusalem, the Ramallah-based health ministry and relatives said, while the army said troops had shot at instigators of stone throwing.

"The young man Mustafa Asaad Hamad (22 years old) was killed by Israeli gunfire in Kufr Aqab," the ministry said in a statement.

In a separate statement, it announced the death of 46-year-old Sufyan Abu Leil, who died "of critical wounds he sustained after being shot by Israeli forces in Qalandia camp this Friday afternoon".

The Palestinian entity in charge of the area, the Jerusalem governorate, reported that Israeli forces had raided the Qalandia refugee camp, adjacent to Kufr Aqab, and wounded several Palestinians with live fire early Friday.

The Israeli military said its forces had twice in 24 hours carried out "operational activities in the Qalandia area... during which violent disturbances developed, including the throwing of stones at the forces."

"The soldiers responded by firing at key instigators and hits were identified," it said in a statement.

Hamad's father Asaad Hamad told AFP at the funeral that the army entered the area at around midnight, causing clashes with local residents, during which his son was shot.

"My son was shot twice in the leg. The bullet hit an artery and he died a martyr," Asaad Hamad told AFP.

Hundreds of young men attended Hamad's funeral as his body was carried through the streets of Qalandia camp on a stretcher, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, an AFP journalist reported.

Qalandia refugee camp, Kufr Aqab and other areas around Jerusalem have seen increased Israeli raids since the beginning of 2026 after Israel launched operation "Capital Shield", which it says aims to make Jerusalem safer.

Since the operation began, the military has arrested dozens of Palestinians and destroyed several buildings it said had been illegally built in Kufr Aqab and Qalandia camp.

Palestinians fear the demolitions will pave the way for Israeli settlers to move into the area, as has happened in parts of east Jerusalem in recent months.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023. It has continued despite an October 2025 ceasefire.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,053 Palestinians, many of them gunmen, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

Arab World

G7 Ministers Urge End to Attacks Against Civilians in Middle East War

First aid responders inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese town of Saksakiyeh on March 27, 2026. (AFP)
First aid responders inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese town of Saksakiyeh on March 27, 2026. (AFP)
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G7 Ministers Urge End to Attacks Against Civilians in Middle East War

First aid responders inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese town of Saksakiyeh on March 27, 2026. (AFP)
First aid responders inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese town of Saksakiyeh on March 27, 2026. (AFP)

G7 allies on Friday urged a stop to attacks against civilians in the Middle East war, after a foreign ministers' meeting in France attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio almost one month into the US-Israeli assault against Iran. 

Having skipped the first day of the meeting at the historic monastery turned luxury hotel complex outside Paris, Rubio had a full day of talks with counterparts from leading industrialized democracies at the Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey outside Paris. 

A final communique on the war in the Middle East called for "an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. 

"There can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of civilians in situations of armed conflict as well as attacks on diplomatic facilities," it added. 

US President Donald Trump had threatened to strike Iranian energy facilities, but subsequently rowed back that warning to give Tehran more time for talks he said were taking place. 

This was Rubio's first trip abroad since the United States and Israel launched the war with air strikes on February 28 that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei. 

Before leaving France, he told reporters the US expected to finish Iran operations in the "next couple of weeks". 

He said Iran had not yet responded to a plan to end the war. 

But "we've had an exchange of messages and indications from the Iranian system -- whatever's left of it -- about a willingness to talk about certain things". 

- 'Global economy hostage' - 

The G7 meeting was dominated by uncertainty over the current US strategy in the Middle East conflict. 

"The Iranian regime would be well advised to enter into serious negotiations with the United States now," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said after the meeting. 

"There are initial indications that such talks should be taking place," he added, without elaborating. 

Wadephul said the international community needed to collaborate even more closely now it was dealing with two wars in which Russia and Iran were cooperating -- including the conflict sparked by Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

"We need to strengthen our unity," he told reporters. 

The UK's foreign minister Yvette Cooper urged a "swift resolution to this conflict that restores regional stability". 

She echoed concerns over the de facto blockade by Iran of the key Strait of Hormuz, which has driven up global oil prices and left vessels queueing up to enter the energy bottleneck. 

"Iran cannot be able to just hold the global economy hostage," she said. 

The final statement said ministers had "reiterated the absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz". 

Rubio said he had made progress with allies in opposing Iranian threats to start "tolling" vessels. 

"It's dangerous to the world, and it's important that the world have a plan to confront it," he said. 

The elite G7 club -- whose origins go back to the first G6 summit held in the nearby Chateau de Rambouillet in 1975 -- and now comprises Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, UK and United States. 

Arab World

Hezbollah Says Clashed with Israeli Forces in Two South Lebanon Villages

A man checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A man checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Hezbollah Says Clashed with Israeli Forces in Two South Lebanon Villages

A man checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A man checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hezbollah said Friday its members had clashed directly with Israeli forces in two south Lebanon villages, as Israeli airstrikes on several areas killed at least six people, according to the health ministry.

In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters had clashed with "Israeli enemy army forces in the villages of Bayada and Shamaa at point-blank range with light and medium weapons," while also claiming responsibility for attacks on Israeli border towns and positions.

The coastal village of Bayada, adjacent to Shamaa, lies eight kilometres from the border with Israel, according to AFP.

Israeli forces are pushing into numerous towns in southern Lebanon, with officials saying they aim to create a security zone reaching the Litani River, some 30 kilometres from the border, to push Hezbollah back and protect northern Israeli communities.

On Friday, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on several areas, particularly in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media.

One of the strikes, on the town of Saksakiyeh in the Sidon district, killed "four civilians and wounded eight others," in an initial toll reported by the health ministry.

At dawn, Israel had targeted the Tahouitet al-Ghadir area in Beirut's southern suburbs without prior warning, killing two people, according to the health ministry.

Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin said Friday that "Contrary to the declaration by the Lebanese government earlier this year - Hezbollah is still operating and conducting attacks from southern Lebanon."

"If the Lebanese government will not disarm Hezbollah, the (army) will," he said.

After nearly four weeks of war between Hezbollah and Israel, Nicolas Von Arx, regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned Friday that "the humanitarian situation is worsening and civilians, as usual, are paying the highest price" in Lebanon.

After meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, he said, "Civilians must be protected wherever they are, whether they remain in their homes or are forced to flee".

According to the authorities, the war has forced more than one million people to flee their homes, and more than a thousand people have been killed since the conflict began.