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For the millions of Christian Lebanese driven out of our homeland, "Thank you, Israel" is the sentiment echoing from around the world. The Lebanese Foundation for Peace, an international group of Lebanese Christians, made the following statement in a press release to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert concerning the latest Israeli attacks against Hizbullah: We urge you to hit them hard and destroy their terror infrastructure. It is not [only] Israel who is fed up with this situation, but the majority of the silent Lebanese in Lebanon who are fed up with Hizbullah and are powerless to do anything out...

"I had mixed feelings about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a long time. While I had always admired brave little Israel -- a sort of David against the Goliath Arab-Muslim world surrounding it -- I had also met some Palestinians (some of them, Christians) with horror stories about what happened to them at the hands of Israelis some years ago. Then one day, I met an Armenian woman from Lebanon who sort of set me straight. This Lebanese Christian woman told me that she too had sympathized with the Palestinians (as had many Lebanese) -- until they destroyed her country. Lebanon...

The once dominant Lebanese Christians responsible for giving the world "the Paris of the Middle East" as Lebanon used to be known, have been killed, massacred, driven out of their homes and scattered around the world as radical Islam declared its holy war in the 70s and took hold of the country. They voice an opinion that they and Israel have learned from personal experience, which is now belatedly being discovered by the rest of the world. While the world protected the PLO withdrawing from Lebanon in 1983 with Israel hot on their heels, another more volatile and religiously idealistic...

In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a crowd of Muslim demonstrators tries to storm a Coptic church to protest at a play about a Muslim campaign to convert Christians. In Iraq, the Christian middle class is emigrating in droves, fearful of the daily violence and the hostility it now encounters from Islamists.  In Saudi Arabia, churches and other places of non-Muslim worship are banned, and foreign workers who try to hold secret Christian services are jailed, flogged and often deported. In the land of its birth, Christianity is in sad decline as the pressures of life under Israeli occupation and...

Anti Christian attack claims victim in Lebanon ... The killing of Gebran Tueni is the 14th attack targetting Christian interests in Lebanon since the death of Rafik al-Hariri in February. Tueni is the second journalist to be killed after Samir Kassir died in a car bomb attack in June. That day, Tueni was among the crowd: "This is a message for the whole of Lebanon," he said, "for the freedom of expression. It's a message for everyone who believes in the freedom of this country, a message sent by Syria's totalitarian regime, and Syrian agents in Lebanon."

BEIRUT - A powerful explosion struck a Christian suburb of the Lebanese capital on Monday, apparently targeting an official convoy, residents said. A local resident said the blast took place on the road from Beit Mery to the capital, near Mansuriyeh. "I overtook the convoy of a senior official in Mansuriyeh and the explosion occurred two minutes later," he said. "An explosion rocked the building where I live," said a journalist in the east Beirut suburb of Hazmiyeh.

A car bomb has exploded in a Christian-dominated suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, say reports. At least three people are believed to have been killed and several injured in the blast in the Mekallis area, according to unconfirmed reports. One local resident told the French news agency AFP they thought a passing official convoy was the target. Several cars were reportedly set alight and nearby shops and buildings damaged by the explosion.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A powerful bomb went off in a Christian neighborhood of eastern Beirut late Friday, wounding at least three people and sending soldiers scrambling to the scene. The blast detonated just before midnight near a bank, completely destroying a car. But it was not clear if the bomb was placed in the vehicle, under it or near it. Two other cars were also damaged. The explosion was the latest in a series of blasts that have shaken Beirut, some killing or wounding prominent politicians and others hitting public areas and causing panic. It came days after a U.N....

BEIRUT - a strong explosion of unspecified origin resounded Friday little before midnight (21h00 GMT) in the Christian part of Beirut, noted a journalist of AFP. The explosion occurred near a banking house in the district of Achrafieh, indicated the helps to AFP. Three cars are on fire and one is unaware of if there are victims, one specified of the same source.

Frontpage Interview guest today is Brigitte Gabriel, a survivor of Islam's Jihad against Lebanese Christians. She is now an expert on the Middle East conflict who lectures nationally and internationally on the subject. She's the former news anchor of World News for Middle East television and the founder of AmericanCongressforTruth.com.FP: Brigitte Gabriel, thank you for joining us today. Gabriel: Thank you for inviting me. I'm delighted to join you. FP: First things first, tell us a bit about your background. Gabriel: I was raised in the only Christian country in the Middle East, Lebanon. A lot of people think the...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A notorious anti-Syrian Christian warlord was released Tuesday after 11 years in prison, the latest reconciliatory step in civil war-scarred Lebanon after the recent collapse of Syria's military dominance. Samir Geagea, 53, left his Defense Ministry cell in Beirut and soldiers escorted him straight to Lebanon's international airport where he met with Lebanese Forces supporters, a senior Lebanese security officer said on condition of anonymity because the government had not officially commented on his release. Antoinette Geagea, spokeswoman for the banned Christian Lebanese Forces militia which Geagea headed during the 1975-90 civil war, told The Associated Press...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Lebanese Christian general who once fought the Syrian army and returned from exile just weeks ago appeared headed toward a surprising victory Monday in the third round of parliamentary elections. --snip--

Firebrand former Christian exile Michel Aoun scored a surprise victory in the third round of Lebanon's elections, dealing a major blow to the opposition alliance that led the campaign to drive out Syrian troops. Aoun's unlikely alliance with longtime Syrian allies swept the board in constituencies reserved for Christians in Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, according to preliminary results from Sunday's vote. Sunday's vote, the most hotly contested so far of the four-round elections, was the first since Syrian forces left in April after a 29-year military presence in the turmoil that followed the February killing of former prime...

BEIRUT -- Unlike Muslims, who won landslide victories in the first two rounds of Lebanon's general elections, estranged Christian candidates are gearing up for a fierce battle in the next polls on Sunday. Christians, along with Muslims and Druze, as well as Western powers, forced Syria to end its 29-year military presence in the country in late April. But they are now at odds among themselves after former exile and prominent Maronite Michel Aoun decided to forge an unlikely alliance with pro-Syrian candidates. Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, a leader of the anti-Syrian movement, recently aired his frustration at "the...

Catholic Radio Station Bombed in Lebanon BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- A Catholic-run radio station in Lebanon was destroyed in a bombing attack May 6, the latest in a series of attacks in Lebanon's Christian areas. The attack was an apparent response to the station's campaign regarding the plight of Lebanese detained in Syrian prisons. The Voice of Charity, operated by the Congregation of Maronite Lebanese Missionaries in the port city of Jounieh since 1984, was completely destroyed in the attack, caused by an estimated 50 pounds of explosives in the main square outside the building. One person was killed, and...

Maronite bishops warn Syrian-tailored election law will disrupt fragile Christian-Muslim coexistence.  BEIRUT - Lebanon's Maronite bishops warned on Wednesday that a Syrian-tailored election law adopted for polls starting this month would disrupt the country's fragile Christian-Muslim coexistence. The law "violates... co-existence between Christians and Muslims and does not allow for fair elections", said a seven-point statement issued after a meeting called by Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir. "We call on all the Lebanese officials to act and prevent the harmful repercussions of this law," it said. The Lebanese government, under pressure from the international community, said elections for a 128-seat parliament will...

BEIRUT, Lebanon, MAY 9, 2005 (Zenit.org). - An explosion in Lebanon destroyed the Voice of Charity Catholic radio station of the patriarchate of the Maronites. The blast in Jounieh, north of Beirut, killed two people and injured 27 on Friday. "I think it was hit directly and deliberately," said Bishop Bechara Rai of Jbeil of the Maronites on Vatican Radio. On Friday the radio station expressed its solidarity with family members of those imprisoned in Syrian jails in Damascus who "have denounced the atrocities of Damascus' prisons" and "what they saw." "I think those who have been harmed in Syria...

BEIRUT, Lebanon, MAY 9, 2005 (Zenit.org).- An explosion in Lebanon destroyed the Voice of Charity Catholic radio station of the patriarchate of the Maronites. The blast in Jounieh, north of Beirut, killed two people and injured 27 on Friday. "I think it was hit directly and deliberately," said Bishop Bechara Rai of Jbeil of the Maronites on Vatican Radio. On Friday the radio station expressed its solidarity with family members of those imprisoned in Syrian jails in Damascus who "have denounced the atrocities of Damascus' prisons" and "what they saw." "I think those who have been harmed in Syria or...

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon's Christian hardliner Michel Aoun returned home to a hero's welcome after 15 years in exile, hoping to reform the country where much-awaited legislative elections are due later this month. The anti-Syrian Aoun flew in from Paris on a specially chartered plane accompanied by close aides family members and around 50 journalists and cameramen, 12 days after the last Syrian soldier quit the country. Thunderous applause erupted on the tarmac of Beirut International Airport where hundreds of partisans and relatives, including a brother he had not seen in 15 years, his three daughters and grandchildren, greeted Aoun...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A powerful bomb tore through a shopping center in the anti-Syrian Christian heartland north of Beirut on Wednesday, killing two people and bringing Lebanon closer to chaos weeks before general elections. The explosion, the second in a commercial Christian area in five days, was also set to sharpen a political rift following last month's killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Christian opposition leaders blamed Lebanon's Syrian-backed security agencies for the blasts. The opposition had demanded the resignation of the country's security chiefs and an international investigation into Hariri's killing. "It has become clear to everyone that...