Rahi to Politicians: Free Lebanon from Personal Interests, Regional Files

Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi on Thursday criticized Lebanon’s leaders for failing to form a government, voicing calls to distance Lebanon from “your personal interests and the regional conflicts.”

“Free Lebanon from the files and conflicts in the region and from your personal interests,” Rahi said in a televised Christmas message.

He pointed to the collapsed economy and trade in Lebanon which “must be revived through the formation of a government, but malicious intentions that only know how to destroy prevent the formation,” he said.

“The political group has made politics an art for its interests to humiliate the people and strike the economy as if running an enemy state and enemy people,” the Patriarch lashed out.

Rahi said all the promises made about a speedy government have failed, noting that efforts are “back to square one.”

To families of the victims of the Beirut port blast, he said the investigation into the explosion is regretfully “going in circles.”

“It is painful that the investigation into the port explosion revolves around itself, but the disaster outweighs everyone's immunity. The people want the truth and the investigation should go to the basis of the disaster,” said Rahi.