Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 15 to 22 March 2021

A beacon for the displaced to return

If rocks could talk, the buildings of Ishakian School and St. Mesrob Church would have told an ancient story that goes back to 1915. It all started when Armenian people crossed the Syrian Desert, fleeing the Ottoman genocide, and settled in the Old City of Homs where they found a shelter.

The deadly Coronavirus imposed challenges at every level and forced people to turn their lives upside down. However, we can see a glimmer of hope in many situations despite this exacerbating health battle. This microscopic virus didn’t spare anyone as we became aware of the important presence of many around us, those making efforts and sacrifices with patience, hoping they would win the battle.

Report: 15 March 2021

Despite the beginning of vaccination campaigns in the Middle East, health experts warn that the rate at which vaccines are entering each country is too low. Moreover, not all countries have begun such a campaign as they have yet to receive vaccines.

Report: 1 to 15 March 2021

ME nations still struggle to receive their doses of vaccines, while bearing the economic burdens they have dragged over the years. Local political classes continue to relish in their offices, luxury homes and warm palaces, while hungry cries fill the street. This is just another day in an unequal Middle East.

MASS Depression

Months after the explosion, all forms of investigation seem to be restarting from square one, to say the least. Beleaguered with an unstoppable pandemic, a broken economy, and a corrupt political system, Lebanese haven’t ever been so depressed in history.

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 8 to 15 March 2021

According to what journalists who accompanied His Holiness Pope Francis on his trip to Baghdad said before his arrival in Mesopotamia, he had seen reports about women "trafficking" during the control of ISIS on many Iraqi cities, and it affected and pained him.

Pope Francis announced that before he decided to visit Iraq, he had read the book of the young Yazidi woman Nadia Murad in which she talks about her captivity. He later revealed that Nadia's story was one of the reasons he decided to visit Iraq.

Countries in the Middle East continue their fight against pandemic while vaccines are being rolled out. Thousands of vials have been dispatched so far and have reached their respective public health sector.

7 months after of the Beirut explosion, another person falls victim to the after effects of the event. 57-year-old Ardem, as told by his cousin Sanahine Kassabian, had his house devastated. He lost the pet shop he owned in Gemmayzé located just meters away from the port. This left him “mentally and emotionally broken. He couldn’t eat, sleep nor talk,” explained Kassabian.

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 2 to 8 March 2021

During the last Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches held on Friday 25 February, 2021, President of the Saint Paul Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Harissa - Lebanon Fr. Nicolas Bustros was appointed as Associate General Secretary for the Catholic Family. The Communication and Public Relations Department interviewed him as new member of the General Secretariat’s family in order to get to know him well and to highlight his role and his future expectations in the ecumenical movement.

Report: 16 to 28 February 2021

In another step forward in the Middle East, it seems that additional thousands of Palestinians will be getting vaccinated. As the Israeli state is increasingly finding it difficult to own up to its apartheid mentality, international pressure and criticism of its policies towards Palestinians and its breach of human rights law, is growing.

Report: 16 to 28 February 2021

With the arrival of the vaccine to the region, many wonder whether national vaccination plans will succeed. This is specially the case for countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, where each face a different set of hurdles, related to either financial instability, rampant corruption, or besieging state.

In a main news item presented by a Tunisian media agency, it suggested that the materials that caused the explosion at the Beirut port on the fourth of last August came from Tunisia. Due to the disappearance of a very significant amount of "ammonium" from the chemical complex in the Governorate of Gabes (southern Tunisia) between 2013 and 2019, such a correlation can be built.

I, as an Iraqi citizen, should feel at home in Iraq

His Holiness Pope Francis the Prophetic voice in the world; “Prepare the way for the Lord…” (Isaiah 40:3) and be brothers in humanity… - carries projects of love, forgiveness and dialogue in his suitcase once again as he makes his way to Iraq with the certainty of a good shepherd telling the doubtful: “I want to be near the tormented…”

The Pope’s visit to Mesopotamia and the land of Abraham from March 5 to 8 bears great hope for an East burdened with grief, filled with conflicts and wars, and promises that the visit will make a change in Iraq.

“Hoy nos han vuelto a matar…”

En un reciente giro de los acontecimientos, el juez Fadi Sawan fue apartado de la investigación de la explosión de Beirut por razones absurdas.

Alguien o alguna entidad quería apartarlo de la investigación y, en consecuencia, fue sustituido por el juez Tarek El Bitar.

The Middle East can rejoice with news of the arrival of the vaccine to Palestine.

“Today you have killed us all over again!...”

In a recent turn of events, Judge Fadi Sawan was removed from the investigation of Beirut Blast due to absurd reasons. Someone or some entity wanted him off the investigation and as a result, he was replaced by Judge Tarek El Bitar. Families of the victims were devastated by this news as this showed that the state would never hold the powerful to account.

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 15 to 22 February 2021