Bombed churches and air strikes: Celebrating Christmas in south Lebanon Submitted by Madeline Edwards on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 14:22 In Derdghaya, Lebanese Christians cling on to their communities and traditions despite Israeli attacks Posters showing Hezbollah members and civilians killed by Israel in south Lebanon are seen behind a tinsel-covered tree in Derdghaya, 21 December (João Sousa/MEE) On Mass began at 9am. Twenty, then perhaps 30, people filed into the small sanctuary from the howling winter winds outside. It cut through the sounds of Arabic Christmas songs playing from speakers planted out the front. The worshipers gathering on Sunday were mostly elderly and the only remaining residents of Derdghaya, a small village in southern Lebanon with a majority-Christian central neighbourhood. There were also some children, and young adults donning the uniforms of Caritas, a Catholic charity. They prayed through the service, the congregation’s last before Christmas arrives on Thursday. Only, this isn’t the village’s permanent church - rather, this makeshift chapel is the local priest’s residence, which the congregants are using as an alternative for the time being. Their actual church is a pile of rubble. The Melkite Greek Catholic St George Church, just steps away from this Mass, was destroyed last year by an Israeli bombing attack. The main prayer hall is now a mess of stones and concrete. The strike killed at least two people. Israel began bombing Lebanon in October 2023 after Hezbollah opened a “solidarity front” along the Lebanese-Israeli border in support of the Palestinians under attack in Gaza. The violence escalated in September 2024, as Israel exploded thousands of booby-trapped communications devices and unleashed a heavy bombing campaign that devastated much of the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs. Around a million Lebanese fled their homes in a matter of days. The Israeli attacks would kill more than 4,000 people. A ceasefire deal that November brought the all-out war to a simmer, with Israel still striking south Lebanon on an almost daily basis. More than 330 people have been killed by Israel since the guns were meant to fall silent. The howl of winds and warplanes In Derdghaya, martyr posters remain on the streets announcing the names of the dead: a young Christian volunteer from the Civil Defense search-and-rescue team, as well as some Hezbollah members from the nearby neighbourhoods. Despite the uncertainty, a few construction workers, wearing bright red hats, sorted through the debris of Derdghaya’s destroyed church on Sunday morning as Mass was held, as part of slow efforts to halt the building’s decay. A skeleton of scaffolding held up the mangled concrete. Outside were plastic candy canes and smiling Santa figurines, swaying in the wind. Some of the congregants mistook the wind’s howls for the sounds of Israeli warplanes, a noise they have become used to over the past two years. Workers repair a church in Derdghaya that was badly damaged by an Israeli strike, 21 December (João Sousa/MEE) Georges Elia is a self-described “social activist” and the son of Derdghaya’s mukhtar, a local-level representative. He has been leading efforts to celebrate Christmas this year in Derdghaya, including dressing up as Santa and visiting schools in neighbouring Muslim villages, aboard a motorbike decked out as Santa’s sleigh. The majority of southern Lebanon’s residents are Shia, though large Christian, Sunni and Druze populations live alongside them. All the communities, to some degree, are decorating their towns for Christmas despite lingering war anxieties. A handful of the villages situated even further south of Derdghaya, right along the border with Israel, are majority-Christian and have suffered even more damage from Israeli strikes. 'There is nothing to celebrate': Gaza's Christians mark sombre Christmas amid fragile truce Read More » Those without heavy damage are still surrounded by the sounds of near daily Israeli bombings, and ominous smoke plumes rising in the distance. “We’ve gotten used to it,” laughed Rami, a 26-year-old university student from the border village of Deir Mimas, who wished to be identified by a false name for security reasons. Deir Mimas, a small Christian farming village with a medieval monastery, overlooks an Israeli town just across the border. Israeli forces damaged part of the local cemetery last year, and entered the village with a military tank and bulldozer. Rami fled north during the worst of the onslaught last year, though others stayed behind - “not just the elderly, also those who have livestock, and some stubborn people. One of them was a pregnant lady.” She has since given birth. Rami and his parents returned home a year ago, after the supposed ceasefire. And though Christmas “feels like it’s coming back” this year with some decorations and visitors, many of Rami’s extended relatives are avoiding Deir Mimas for the holidays. Looming escalation It is not clear exactly how many Christians fled south Lebanon during the worst of the Israeli onslaught last year, or during recent months, as the air strikes have continued despite the November 2024 ceasefire deal. There are only piecemeal estimates, village by village. Pierre Atallah, who was elected mayor of the border village Rachaya al-Fukhar in May, said there were 115-120 households there before the war. “After the war, I lost around 20 households,” he estimated. The villagers are a mix of Orthodox Christians and Maronites. According to election data that Atallah shared from Lebanon’s municipal elections in May, about 34,000 Christian voters call the southern border areas home. How many of them fled Israel’s onslaught? Internal displacement can be difficult to track in Lebanon with any precision, as citizens are listed on their IDs and in elections as belonging to their ancestral villages or cities, regardless of the actual place where they currently reside. Atallah, who is in his 60s and lives between Rachaya al-Fukhar and a suburb of Beirut, says he is hoping to retire to the village full-time soon. But before that, he plans to bring his family to Rachaya al-Fukhar for Christmas. A public Christmas tree is awaiting them there, and the village held an event for local children and their families earlier this week. Worshippers attend Mass in a makeshift church in Derdghaya, 21 December (João Sousa/MEE) Still, the threat of yet more violent escalation looms over the holiday. An end-of-year deadline is looming for the Lebanese government and military to disarm Hezbollah in areas south of the Litani River, a key stipulation of last year’s ceasefire deal. Lebanon is nearing completion of that task, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday. In Derdghaya, the gold tinsel and shiny Christmas baubles tossed in the heavy winds, which threatened to blow them away. The village’s roughly 30 elderly residents, by Georges Elia’s count, filed home from Mass in the cold. Among them was Takla Nahhas, who huddled with her family at home on Sunday, without indoor heating to warm them. They said they know their numbers are dwindling here in south Lebanon after years of war and Lebanon's economic crisis. Elia, the village Santa, soldiered on in his red-and-white suit despite the cold, and despite injuries from a serious road accident several weeks ago that nearly took both of his legs. He went from school to school Monday morning, handing out gifts to children. Many of them were among the families displaced by the worst of last year’s bombs. Like Elia, they, too, smiled for Christmas in their matching Santa Claus costumes. Israel's war on Lebanon Derdghaya, Lebanon News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0