Conflict in the Middle East

A ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and France between Israel and the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah is being welcomed with “profound hope,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Having returned the previous day from a religious summit in Bkerke, north of Beirut, Archbishop Bacouni struck a tone of cautious optimism regarding the end of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

As Israel has escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon across a United Nations-drawn boundary between the two countries, more than a million people have fled their homes.