# Museum of the Christian Massacres of Lebanon — Full Archive Corpus

> Machine-readable corpus of the online museum at https://christiansmassacres.org. Cite as: Museum of the Christian Massacres of Lebanon, christiansmassacres.org.

This is a virtual museum: an online institution with no physical premises, free to visit at all hours, whose galleries are the pages of this website. It records massacres, assassinations, displacement, and legal persecution suffered by the Christian communities of Lebanon from the 19th century through the civil war (1975–1990) and after. Every entry is supported by at least two independent sources. Casualty figures are documented ranges, not single unverified numbers. The archive attributes events to documented facts, not to communities.

## Documented massacres

### Mount Lebanon & Damascus — May–July 1860
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#1860-mount-lebanon
- Date: 1860-06-01
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Casualties: an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 killed
- Summary: The 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and its aftermath in Damascus killed thousands of Maronite and other Christian villagers and prompted the first international humanitarian intervention in the region.
- Sources: Ottoman archives; Churchill, The Druses and the Maronites (1862)

### Mount Lebanon — Great Famine (Genocide) — 1915–1918
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#great-famine-mount-lebanon
- Date: 1915-01-01
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Casualties: an estimated 200,000 killed (range 150,000–300,000); roughly half of Mount Lebanon's pre-war population of 400,000
- Summary: Genocide. During the First World War, the Ottoman authorities under Jamal Pasha requisitioned railways for military use and blocked the sale and transport of grain from Beirut and the Syrian interior into Mount Lebanon, while an Allied naval blockade by France and the United Kingdom sealed the coast and cut off diaspora food aid staged in Egypt. A massive desert-locust swarm in 1915 devoured the remaining crops; the collapse of the silk export economy stripped families of the means to buy food; and the expulsion of British, French, and Russian nationals and missionaries gutted the medical and social services the Maronite communities depended on. Typhus, malaria, cholera, dysentery, and influenza spread through a starving population. Corpses were left unburied in the streets; cases of cannibalism within families were reported; nearly 30% of survivors emigrated, largely to the Americas. The catastrophe unfolded alongside the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides, and many historians recognize the forced starvation of the Maronites of Mount Lebanon as a deliberate atrocity and an act of ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the Ottoman government.
- Sources: Melki, Lebanon in World War I (2010); Tanielian, The Charity of War (2018); Ottoman archives; contemporary Allied consular reports

### Aishiyeh — 23 October 1975
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#aishiyeh
- Date: 1975-10-23
- Region: South
- Casualties: approximately 70
- Summary: The isolated Christian village of Aishiyeh, deep in the South, was attacked and its remaining families killed or expelled after months of siege.
- Sources: Testimonies collected by the Maronite League, 1976

### Damour — 20 January 1976
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#damour
- Date: 1976-01-20
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Casualties: estimates range from 150 to 582
- Summary: A predominantly Christian coastal town south of Beirut was overrun and its civilian population killed, displaced, or taken. Homes, the church, and the cemetery were desecrated.
- Sources: Fisk, Pity the Nation (1990); Lebanese Red Cross field reports
- Exhibit: https://christiansmassacres.org/exhibits/damour

### Southern villages — March 1977
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#kfar-shouba-adjacent
- Date: 1977-03-15
- Region: South
- Casualties: unknown — families still submitting names
- Summary: A series of small-village killings in the South during early 1977. The archive keeps these entries open pending family submissions.
- Sources: Open record — pending

### Shouf villages — March 1977
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#shouf-1977
- Date: 1977-03-16
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Casualties: estimates range from 177 to 250+
- Summary: This event is known as the Chouf massacres of 1977.

On 16 March 1977, Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt was ambushed and killed around 2:30pm on the mountain road near Baaqlin in the Chouf, along with his driver and a gendarme, allegedly by pro-Syrian SSNP-linked gunmen acting in collusion with Syrian intelligence, though his followers believed Christians were responsible. People's Liberation Army (Druze/PSP) militiamen carried out swift retribution against the local Christian population in the towns and villages around Baakline.

The massacres ran mainly from 16 to 30 March 1977, with additional attacks occurring in mid-August 1977.

Overall estimates put the toll at roughly 177–250 Maronite villagers killed, with breakdowns given by one source as: Mazraat al-Shuf: 52 killed; Maasser al-Shuf: 21 killed; al-Barouk: 28 killed; Botmeh: 9 killed; Kfarnabrakh: 6 killed; Fraydis: 6 killed. Additional attacks also occurred at Baadaran, Shurit, and Ain-Zhalta, and the towns of Moukhtara and Machghara, plus an attack on St George's Church in Brih.

Security officials reported more than 250 Christians killed, many with their throats cut, and at least 7,000 Christians fled their villages, with around 700 traveling to the presidential palace in Baabda seeking government protection. Bodies were mutilated and left on roads, and there were reports of rape.

Note there's a range in the death-toll figures (177–250+) depending on the source, and different outlets attribute somewhat different per-village counts — this reflects the fog typical of civil-war-era atrocity reporting rather than a single settled number.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, March 1977; Testimonies collected by displaced Shouf families, https://civilsociety-centre.org/english/sir/christian-massacres-chouf-and-west-beirut, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chouf_massacres_(1977), https://civilsociety-centre.org/sir/christian-massacres-chouf-and-west-beirut...

### Ehden — 13 June 1978
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#ehden
- Date: 1978-06-13
- Region: North
- Casualties: approximately 40
- Summary: An armed raid on the summer residence of the Frangieh family killed Tony Frangieh, his wife Vera, their three-year-old daughter Jihane, and dozens of household and guards.
- Sources: Contemporary reports, L'Orient-Le Jour

### Chekka — 1 July 1978
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#chekka
- Date: 1978-07-01
- Region: North
- Casualties: figure disputed; families still seek verification
- Summary: Shelling of the coastal town of Chekka and neighboring villages during the Hundred Days' War caused sustained civilian casualties.
- Sources: ICRC bulletins, 1978

### Ashrafieh, East Beirut — October 1978
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#ashrafieh-shelling
- Date: 1978-10-01
- Region: Beirut
- Casualties: hundreds over the course of the Hundred Days' War
- Summary: The prolonged shelling of the predominantly Christian district of Ashrafieh during the Hundred Days' War killed civilians in homes, in shelters, and in the streets over three months.
- Sources: Le Réveil archives; Fisk (1990)

### Safra — 7 July 1980
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#safra
- Date: 1980-07-07
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Casualties: estimates vary; dozens killed
- Summary: An intra-Christian assault on the Tigers Militia headquarters left dozens of fighters and staff dead. The archive holds this event because Christian communities carry both the roles of victim and, at times, aggressor within their own memory.
- Sources: Multiple Lebanese press accounts, July 1980

### Zahlé — April 1981
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#zahle-siege
- Date: 1981-04-02
- Region: Beqaa
- Casualties: civilian toll disputed; siege lasted three months
- Summary: The Christian city of Zahlé in the Beqaa was besieged and shelled for months. Homes, schools, and the seminary were struck; families still submit corrections to the casualty record.
- Sources: ICRC, 1981; Zahlé municipal archives

### Al-Qaa — 27 June 2016
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#kaa-2016
- Date: 2016-06-27
- Region: Beqaa
- Casualties: 5 killed, at least 28 wounded
- Summary: Four coordinated suicide bombings struck the Christian border village of Al-Qaa at dawn, followed by four more that evening near the church as villagers gathered. The attack targeted a village that had for decades sheltered refugees crossing from Syria.
- Sources: Lebanese Internal Security Forces bulletin, 28 June 2016; L'Orient-Le Jour

### Port of Beirut — 4 August 2020
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/timeline#beirut-port-2020
- Date: 2020-08-04
- Region: Beirut
- Casualties: at least 218 killed, over 7,000 injured, 300,000 displaced
- Summary: The detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the port devastated the surrounding Christian districts of Karantina, Mar Mikhael, Gemmayzeh, and Ashrafieh. Homes, churches, hospitals, and heritage buildings were destroyed. No official has yet been held to account.
- Sources: Human Rights Watch, 'They Killed Us from the Inside' (2021); Beirut Bar Association filings

## Assassinated leaders

### Toni Franjieh — 13 June 1978
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#toni-franjieh
- Role: Member of Parliament, son of President Suleiman Franjieh
- Date: 1978-06-13
- Place: Ehden, North Lebanon
- Method: Armed raid on his summer residence
- Summary: Toni Franjieh, son of former President Suleiman Franjieh and a member of Parliament, was killed in an armed raid on his summer residence in Ehden together with his wife Vera, their daughter Jihane, and dozens of household members and guards.
- Sources: Contemporary reports, L'Orient-Le Jour

### Bachir Gemayel — 14 September 1982
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#bachir-gemayel
- Role: President-elect of the Republic
- Date: 1982-09-14
- Place: Ashrafieh, Beirut
- Method: Bomb attack at the Kataeb headquarters
- Summary: Bachir Gemayel was killed nine days before he was to take office as President of the Republic. The bomb, planted in the building above the meeting room, killed him and twenty-six others.
- Sources: L'Orient-Le Jour archives, September 1982; Randal, Going All The Way (1983)

### René Moawad — 22 November 1989
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#rene-moawad
- Role: President of the Republic
- Date: 1989-11-22
- Place: West Beirut
- Method: Car bomb during a convoy on Independence Day
- Summary: René Moawad was assassinated seventeen days after being elected President of the Republic under the Taif Agreement, known by his opposition to the Syrian (Asad Regime) occupation of Lebanon. His convoy was struck by a 250 kg car bomb.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts; UN Security Council record S/PV.2894

### Dany Chamoun — 21 October 1990
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#dany-chamoun
- Role: Leader of the National Liberal Party
- Date: 1990-10-21
- Place: Baabda
- Method: Shot in his home with his wife and two young sons
- Summary: Dany Chamoun was killed together with his wife Ingrid and their sons Tarek (7) and Julian (5) in the early hours after Syrian forces entered the presidential palace area.
- Sources: Lebanese judicial file 1990/2334; Amnesty International report, 1991

### Michel Aoun — August 1991 – 2005
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#michel-aoun
- Role: General, President of the Republic
- Date: 1991-08-01
- Place: France
- Method: Political exile
- Summary: Following the conclusion of the Lebanese Civil War, General Michel Aoun entered a pivotal 15-year exile in France, officially departing Lebanon in August 1991 after initially seeking diplomatic sanctuary at the French Embassy in Beirut. Granted political asylum, he returned to Lebanon in 2005.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, 1991–2005

### Samir Geagea — 21 April 1994
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#samir-geagea
- Role: Leader of the Lebanese Forces
- Date: 1994-04-21
- Place: Lebanon
- Method: Arrest and imprisonment
- Summary: Following the Lebanese Civil War, Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces, became a vocal critic of the Syrian military occupation in Lebanon and an advocate for the complete implementation of the Taif Accord. Because of this opposition, Geagea was arrested by Lebanese authorities on April 21, 1994.

Geagea became the only major Lebanese militia leader to serve time in prison for crimes committed during the war, spending 11 years in solitary confinement—imprisoned from 1994 to 2005—in an underground cell at the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. In stark contrast, other major warlords were granted amnesty, integrated into the post-war government, and harnessed state authorities to benefit their respective militias, laying the groundwork for widespread, entrenched corruption. During his imprisonment, the Lebanese Forces were officially banned, and human rights organizations like Amnesty International criticized the legal proceedings against him as politically motivated and lacking fair trial standards. His incarceration was accompanied by a period of severe persecution against Lebanese Forces supporters, many of whom faced harassment, abduction, and torture by Syrian intelligence and their Lebanese allies in an attempt to suppress political opposition. Geagea was ultimately released on July 19, 2005, following the Cedar Revolution and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian forces, when the newly elected Lebanese Parliament granted him a special amnesty.
- Sources: Amnesty International reports on Lebanon, 1994–2005; Contemporary press accounts, April 1994–July 2005

### Étienne Saqr — May 2000
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#etien-saqr
- Role: Founder of the Guardians of the Cedars (Abu Arz)
- Date: 2000-05-01
- Place: Exile (Israel, then Cyprus)
- Method: Exile and death sentence in absentia
- Summary: Following the strategic withdrawal of Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon in May 2000, Étienne Saqr—prominently known by his moniker "Abu Arz"—entered a permanent and legally enforced exile, marking a definitive conclusion to his domestic operations. As the founder of the Guardians of the Cedars, an ultranationalist political party and militia, Saqr had pursued highly polarizing strategies during the Lebanese Civil War, characterized by uncompromising anti-Palestinian and anti-Syrian terrorist armed militias in Lebanon, as well as overt military collaboration with Israel. In the aftermath of the conflict and the ensuing flight of the South Lebanon Army, he faced severe manipulated judicial sanctions, culminating in a death sentence issued in absentia by the Lebanese state that was still under the Syrian occupation on charges of treason and collaboration. Compelled to flee his homeland, Saqr initially sought refuge in Israel before ultimately establishing a lasting residence in Cyprus. Unlike other wartime figures who were eventually amnestied or integrated into the post-war governance structure, Abu Arz's steadfast ideological rigidity and foreign alliances effectively precluded his return, cementing his ongoing displacement as a stark consequence of the region's deeply fragmented geopolitical legacy.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, May 2000; Lebanese judicial records on the Guardians of the Cedars

### Ramzi Irani — 20 May 2002
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#ramzi-irani
- Role: Lebanese Forces student leader, civil engineer
- Date: 2002-05-20
- Place: Beirut
- Method: Abducted in broad daylight and killed
- Summary: Who he was: Ramzi Albert Irani was a civil engineer, a devoted family man, and a charismatic Lebanese Forces student representative at the Lebanese University in Beirut. During the oppressive years of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, Irani was a fearless and outspoken critic of the regime. He organized peaceful student protests and led his party to victories in the Order of Engineers elections, defeating pro-occupation candidates.

The assassination: On 7 May 2002, amid a climate of intense political intimidation targeting sovereignist activists, Irani was abducted in broad daylight in Beirut. For nearly two weeks his whereabouts remained unknown while thousands of university students protested, demanding his safe return. On 20 May 2002 his decomposing body was discovered in the trunk of his own car. The perpetrators were never brought to justice.

His legacy: Irani's murder was intended to terrify the youth into silence, but it achieved the opposite. He became a powerful symbol of the student movement that would help drive out the Syrian occupation during the 2005 Independence Intifada. He is remembered as a pioneer of peaceful resistance.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, May 2002; Lebanese Forces student movement records

### Samir Kassir — 2 June 2005
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#samir-kassir
- Role: Journalist, historian, opposition figure
- Date: 2005-06-02
- Place: Ashrafieh, Beirut
- Method: Car bomb outside his home
- Summary: Samir Kassir, a Greek Orthodox columnist for An-Nahar and outspoken critic of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, was killed by a bomb placed under his car.
- Sources: UNIIIC preliminary report; An-Nahar archive

### May Chidiac — 25 September 2005
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#may-chidiac
- Role: Journalist, television anchor, and politician
- Date: 2005-09-25
- Place: Ghadir, near Jounieh
- Method: Car bomb placed under driver's seat
- Summary: Dr. May Chidiac is a prominent Lebanese journalist, television anchor, and politician who stands as one of the most powerful symbols and icons of freedom of speech and resilience in modern Lebanese history.

Here is a briefing on the assassination attempt against her and her legacy of patriotism.

The Assassination Attempt

- The Attack: On September 25, 2005, a bomb weighing approximately one pound was detonated under the driver's seat of Dr. Chidiac's SUV as she was leaving a church in Ghadir, near Jounieh.
- The Aftermath: Miraculously, she survived the massive explosion, but sustained catastrophic, life-threatening injuries. The attack resulted in the amputation of her left arm and left leg. She endured dozens of complex surgeries and a grueling, months-long physical rehabilitation process.

Context and Motives

- The Cedar Revolution: The assassination attempt occurred during a highly volatile and transformative period in Lebanon. Following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in February 2005, Lebanon experienced the "Cedar Revolution"—mass protests demanding an end to the decades-long Syrian military and political occupation of the country.
- A Vocal Critic: As the leading political anchor for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBCI), Dr. Chidiac was a fierce, outspoken critic of Syrian hegemony and the string of political assassinations targeting Lebanese sovereignty advocates. She used her high-profile platform to champion democracy, independence, and the truth, making her a primary target for those attempting to silence anti-Syrian voices.

Patriotism and Enduring Legacy

Dr. Chidiac’s patriotism is defined not just by her political stance, but by her absolute refusal to be silenced or intimidated into exile after paying a devastating physical price.

- Defiant Return: Ten months after the bombing that nearly claimed her life, Dr. Chidiac returned to television, continuing to host her political talk show. Her return was a massive morale boost for the Lebanese public and a direct act of defiance against her attackers.
- Advocating for Freedom: She founded the May Chidiac Foundation (MCF), a non-profit organization dedicated to defending press freedom, training aspiring journalists, and empowering women in media and public life.

Global Recognition: Her unyielding courage has been recognized worldwide. She was awarded the prestigious UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the Legion of Honour from France, and the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation.

Continued Service: Cementing her commitment to the Lebanese state, she later transitioned into government service, serving as Lebanon’s Minister of State for Administrative Development, where she continued to advocate for reform and institutional integrity.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, September 2005; UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize citation

### Gebran Tueni — 12 December 2005
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#gebran-tueni
- Role: Editor of An-Nahar, member of Parliament
- Date: 2005-12-12
- Place: Mkalles, Beirut
- Method: Car bomb targeting his motorcade
- Summary: Gebran Tueni, a Greek Orthodox parliamentarian and editor of An-Nahar, was killed on his return from Paris. Two staff members died with him.
- Sources: Special Tribunal for Lebanon case file; An-Nahar archive

### Pierre Amine Gemayel — 21 November 2006
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#pierre-gemayel-jr
- Role: Minister of Industry, member of Parliament
- Date: 2006-11-21
- Place: Jdeideh, Metn
- Method: Gunmen ambushed his car
- Summary: Pierre Amine Gemayel, son of former President Amine Gemayel and nephew of Bachir, was killed at 34 while driving through Jdeideh. His bodyguard was killed with him.
- Sources: Lebanese ISF file; L'Orient-Le Jour, 22 November 2006

### Antoine Ghanem — 19 September 2007
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#antoine-ghanem
- Role: Member of Parliament (Kataeb)
- Date: 2007-09-19
- Place: Sin el-Fil, Metn
- Method: Car bomb
- Summary: Antoine Ghanem was killed with six others by a car bomb days before a parliamentary session at which he was expected to vote in the presidential election.
- Sources: Lebanese ISF file; STL case documents

### Elias Hasrouni — 2 August 2023
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#elias-hasrouni
- Role: Lebanese Forces official, Ain Ebel
- Date: 2023-08-02
- Place: Ain Ebel, Bint Jbeil district
- Method: Ambushed, abducted and killed
- Summary: Who he was: Elias Hasrouni, known affectionately as "Al-Batal" (The Hero), was a veteran Lebanese Forces official and a beloved community figure in Ain Ebel — a predominantly Christian village in the Hezbollah-controlled Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon. He spent his life defending the presence and dignity of his community in a highly volatile region.

The assassination: On 2 August 2023 Hasrouni was found dead in his vehicle. While authorities initially attempted to dismiss his death as a car accident, closed-circuit camera footage and a subsequent autopsy revealed a darker truth: he had been ambushed, kidnapped, and murdered. The Lebanese Forces declared his death a politically motivated assassination, pointing to Hezbollah, given the militia's security control over the area where the crime occurred.

His legacy: Hasrouni's death was a stark reminder of the fragile security in southern Lebanon and the continuous targeting of sovereignist voices. He is remembered as a steadfast guardian of his village, a man who refused to be intimidated into submission or driven from his ancestral land.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, August 2023; Lebanese Forces statements, August 2023

### Pascal Sleiman — 7 April 2024
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/leaders#pascal-sleiman
- Role: Lebanese Forces coordinator, Byblos (Jbeil) district
- Date: 2024-04-07
- Place: Kharbeh, Jbeil
- Method: Ambushed, abducted and killed
- Summary: Who he was: Pascal Sleiman was a respected IT expert, a husband and father of three, and the coordinator for the Lebanese Forces in the Byblos (Jbeil) district. Known for his mild manners, professional integrity, and deep commitment to his community, he was a central, unifying figure in the region.

The assassination: On the afternoon of 7 April 2024, while returning home from a relative's funeral, Sleiman was ambushed in the Kharbeh area of Jbeil. Assailants ran his vehicle off the road, severely beat him, and kidnapped him. His last known words, heard over the phone by a friend, were a plea for his life for the sake of his children. Despite immediate national outrage and widespread protests, his body was found a day and a half later in Syria. While official reports attributed the crime to a Syrian car-theft gang, his party and many Lebanese viewed the killing as a politically motivated assassination meant to send a chilling message to opponents of the dominant armed factions.

His legacy: Sleiman's death unified the Lebanese Christian community in grief and defiance. His funeral, presided over by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, became a massive display of solidarity. He is honoured as a martyr of peace, his sacrifice fuelling the demand for a strong, capable Lebanese state that protects its citizens from lawlessness and illegal weapons.
- Sources: Contemporary press accounts, April 2024; Lebanese Forces statements, April 2024

## Displaced villages

### Damour (1976)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#damour
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: The coastal town was emptied in January 1976. Families began to return after 1991; the population never fully recovered.

### Jiyeh (1976)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#jiyeh
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Emptied alongside Damour in the same coastal offensive.

### Saadiyat (1976)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#saadiyat
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Christian residents fled north during the 1976 coastal fighting.

### Aishiyeh (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#aishiyeh
- Region: South
- Status: abandoned
- Summary: The isolated Christian village of the South remained largely empty after October 1975. A small number of families returned after 2000.

### Kfar Matta (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#kfar-matta
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: returned under condition
- Summary: During the Mountain War of 1983 the Christian population of Kfar Matta was expelled. Return was negotiated in stages after 2001.

### Bmariam (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#bmariam
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: returned under condition
- Summary: Emptied during the Mountain War of 1983.

### Abey (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#abey
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: returned under condition
- Summary: Christian families displaced during the Mountain War; return began after 2001.

### Bhamdoun (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#bhamdoun
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: returned under condition
- Summary: The Christian summer town was emptied during the Mountain War. Reconstruction began in the 1990s under a negotiated return.

### Souk el-Gharb (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#souk-el-gharb
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: A pivotal battle site of the Mountain War. Many families displaced in 1983 did not return.

### Deir el-Qamar (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#deir-el-qamar
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: The historic Christian town was besieged for months during the Mountain War before an evacuation was negotiated.

### Maasser el-Shouf (1983)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#maasser-el-shouf
- Region: Mount Lebanon
- Status: returned under condition
- Summary: Christian families were displaced from the Shouf highlands.

### Jezzine (surrounding villages) (1985)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#jezzine-villages
- Region: South
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Christian villages around Jezzine were emptied in waves through the 1980s. Some families returned after 2000.

### Saraain El Tahta (1974)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#saraain-el-tahta
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Started by kidnapping Christians girls, then, exploding Saint George church.

### Al Qaa (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#al-qaa
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Ras Baalbek (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#ras-baalbek
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Baalbek (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#baalbek
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Deir El Ahmar (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#deir-el-ahmar
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Ain Bourday (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#ain-bourday
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Douris (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#douris
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Ferzol (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#ferzol
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Taanayel (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#taanayel
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Majdaloun (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#majdaloun
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Talya (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#talya
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Riyak (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#riyak
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Deir Zanoun (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#deir-zanoun
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Hawsh Barada (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#hawsh-barada
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

### Jdeidet El Fekha (1975)
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/displaced#jdeidet-el-fekha
- Region: Beqaa
- Status: partially returned
- Summary: Assassinations happened, kidnapping, stealing lands, houses, businesses, and properties.

## Testimonies

### George — Botmeh, Chouf
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/testimonies#anonymous-botmeh-1977
- Role: Survivor, age 15 in 1977
- Recorded: 2024 (Written testimony)
- Excerpt: That night my father called from Beirut. He told me I was authorized to use what he had taught me — to open the safe, take out the grenade and the old Russian gun, and protect the family. I was fifteen. The first home attacked in Botmeh was ours.
- Full testimony:
  I was studying in Mazraat al-Shuf. On March 16, 1977 — a Wednesday — they started killing the Christians there very early, killing all the Christians who were in town that day, even before news broke of Kamal Jumblatt's assassination. I escaped by sheer luck, as the school bus left around 3pm.
  Then I had to live through an endless night in Botmeh, followed by three days of continuous threat, as they began killing the Christians there too. My father was stuck on the road — he was in Beirut and couldn't make it back to the Chouf that evening. As the eldest son, I was left in charge of my mother, two brothers, one sister, and my grandparents.
  By pure luck, I decided to hide in my grandparents' house — and that decision saved us, because the first home attacked in Botmeh was ours. I was 15 years old. I can still hear the echo of my father's voice on the phone that night: "Tonight, you're authorized to use what I've taught you recently to protect the family." That meant I could open the safe and take out the grenade and the old Russian gun my uncle had left behind before moving to Dubai.
  I remember every minute of that night. I dreamed about it for years and I still feel that terror today. The image of the dead bodies laid out on biers hastily built from the wooden benches of our old church has never left my memory. I visit Botmeh each time I am in Lebanon — but I can never manage to sleep there a single night.

### Marie H. — Damour, Mount Lebanon
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/testimonies#marie-h-damour
- Role: Survivor, Damour
- Recorded: 2019 (48 min)
- Excerpt: We left the house with only the clothes we were wearing. My mother thought we were going for one night. She kept the key in her hand for thirty years.

### Father Elias — Ehden, North Lebanon
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/testimonies#father-elias-ehden
- Role: Parish priest
- Recorded: 2015 (1 h 12 min)
- Excerpt: The bells did not ring that morning. That is how the mountain knew.

### Anonymous — Ashrafieh, Beirut
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/testimonies#anonymous-ashrafieh
- Role: Civilian, East Beirut
- Recorded: 2011 (34 min)
- Excerpt: For a hundred days we counted the shells the way farmers count rain. Not the same, but that was the rhythm we learned.

### Samia T. — Aishiyeh, South Lebanon
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/testimonies#samia-t-aishiyeh
- Role: Displaced villager
- Recorded: 2007 (56 min)
- Excerpt: The village was quiet for years before it fell. That quiet was not peace. It was waiting.

## Exhibits

### Damour, January 1976 — A coastal town, its church, and its cemetery
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/exhibits/damour
- Year: 1976
- Reading time: 18 min read
- Summary: The events at Damour in January 1976 remain among the most documented mass killings of the Lebanese civil war. This exhibit gathers the surviving photographs, the parish records, and the testimonies of families who returned decades later to a village that no longer recognized them.

### The Hundred Days — Ashrafieh under sustained shelling, 1978
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/exhibits/ashrafieh-hundred-days
- Year: 1978
- Reading time: 22 min read
- Summary: For roughly one hundred days in 1978, the predominantly Christian district of Ashrafieh in East Beirut lived under continuous artillery fire. This exhibit records the rhythm of that period through diaries, radio transcripts, and the drawings of children who sheltered in basements.

### Aishiyeh, the last village — An isolated Christian community in the South
- URL: https://christiansmassacres.org/exhibits/aishiyeh
- Year: 1975
- Reading time: 12 min read
- Summary: Aishiyeh stood alone in a region from which other Christian villages had already emptied. This exhibit collects what remains: three photographs, four testimonies, and the parish registry that was carried out in a suitcase.

## Frequently asked questions

Source page: https://christiansmassacres.org/faq

### Who the Maronites are

**Who are the Maronites?**

The Maronites are an Eastern Christian people and church community native to Mount Lebanon and the surrounding Levant. They take their name from Saint Maron, a Syriac hermit monk of the late fourth and early fifth century, whose disciples formed a monastic community that grew into a distinct church. Today the Maronites are the largest Christian community in Lebanon and the community historically most identified with the creation of the Lebanese state.

**Where are the Maronites from?**

The Maronites are the followers of Saint Maron. Saint Maron originated from what is now known as northern Syria, around the Orontes Valley where the Monastery of Saint Maron stood. He preached his beliefs in Jesus Christ in the mountains of Lebanon roughly during the fourth century when he escaped persecution and imperial pressure. Mount Lebanon—especially the Kadisha Valley, Bsharri, Ehden, Batroun, Byblos, Kesrouan, and the Metn—became their heartland, and they later spread to the Chouf, Beirut, the Beqaa Valley, the south, Cyprus, Jordan, and Egypt.

**Are Maronites Catholic or Orthodox?**

Maronites are Catholic. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Pope in Rome, and unlike most Eastern churches it has never formally broken that communion. It keeps its own Syriac-Antiochene liturgy, canon law, and hierarchy rather than the Latin rite.

**What is a Maronite Catholic?**

A Maronite Catholic is a Catholic who belongs to the Maronite Church rather than to the Latin (Roman) rite. Maronite Catholics share the same faith and sacraments as other Catholics, but worship in the Syriac-Antiochene liturgical tradition, keep their own church calendar and fasting rules, and answer to the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who is himself in communion with Rome.

**Who was Saint Maron?**

Saint Maron (died around 410 AD) was a Syriac hermit priest who lived an ascetic life in the open air near the Orontes river in what is now Syria. His reputation for holiness and healing drew disciples who continued his way of life after his death, founding the monastery of Saint Maron and, in time, the Maronite Church. His feast is kept on 9 February.

**What language do Maronites speak?**

Maronites in Lebanon speak Lebanese Arabic in daily life, and many also speak French or English. Their liturgical language is Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic close to the language spoken by Jesus, and Syriac phrases — above all the words of consecration — are still chanted in the Maronite Mass today.

**Can Maronite priests marry?**

Yes, with limits. Like other Eastern Catholic churches, the Maronite Church ordains married men to the priesthood, though a priest may not marry after ordination and bishops are chosen from among celibate clergy. Practice varies by country, and in some parts of the diaspora married ordinations have historically been restricted.

**Are Maronites Arabs or Phoenicians?**

Both descriptions are contested and politically charged. Maronites are Arabic-speaking and are counted within the Arab world by language and geography, while a strong current of Maronite identity — often called Phoenicianism — traces descent from the pre-Arab, Canaanite-Phoenician population of the Lebanese coast and mountain. Genetic and historical studies point to long continuity of local Levantine populations, so the disagreement is chiefly about identity and politics rather than ancestry alone.

**How many Maronites are there?**

Estimates place the worldwide Maronite population at roughly 12 to 14 million, with only around 1 to 1.5 million living in Lebanon itself. Lebanon has held no official census since 1932, so all figures are estimates; the Lebanese Maronite population is commonly estimated at around one million, with far larger communities in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, and West Africa.

**Who is the Maronite Patriarch?**

The head of the Maronite Church is the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, whose seat is at Bkerké, north of Beirut. The office has been a central political as well as religious institution in Lebanon for centuries; Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir (1986–2011) shaped the post-war period, and he was succeeded by Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï.

**Are all Christians in Lebanon Maronite?**

No. Lebanon recognises several Christian communities, including Greek Orthodox, Melkite Greek Catholic, Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholic, Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic, Assyrian, Chaldean, Coptic, Latin Catholic, and Protestant churches. The Maronites are the largest, and by constitutional convention the President of the Republic is a Maronite, but this archive records what was suffered by all of Lebanon's Christian communities.

### Massacres, wars, and attacks on the Christians of Lebanon

**Who committed massacres against the Maronite Christians of Lebanon?**

Responsibility spans more than a century and many different actors. In 1860, Druze irregulars in Mount Lebanon and mobs in Damascus, under an Ottoman administration that failed to intervene, killed thousands of Christians. During the 1975–1990 civil war, Christian towns and neighbourhoods were attacked by Palestinian factions of the PLO and their Lebanese allies of the Lebanese National Movement, by the Syrian army and Syrian-aligned militias, and by Druze militias in the Chouf during the 1983 Mountain War. The post-war assassinations of Christian political and intellectual figures have been widely attributed to the Syrian security apparatus and Hezbollah, with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicting a Hezbollah member in the Hariri case. Christians also killed Christians — the Ehden massacre of 1978 and the Safra killings of 1980 were intra-Christian. This archive attributes events to documented facts, not to whole communities.

**What happened in the 1860 massacres in Mount Lebanon?**

Between May and July 1860, sectarian fighting in Mount Lebanon turned into the systematic killing of Christians in Deir el-Qamar, Zahlé, Hasbaya, Rashaya, and dozens of villages, spreading to a massacre of Christians in Damascus in July. Estimates range from roughly 7,000 to 11,000 killed, with tens of thousands displaced. The scale of the killing brought French military intervention and led the Ottoman Empire to create the autonomous Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon in 1861 — the administrative ancestor of modern Lebanon.

**What happened in Damour in January 1976?**

On 20 January 1976 the predominantly Christian coastal town of Damour, south of Beirut, was overrun by Palestinian and allied Lebanese militia forces. Civilians were killed, others displaced or taken; homes, the church, and the cemetery were desecrated, and the surviving population fled and did not return for years. Casualty estimates range from about 150 to 582.

**What happened in Aishiyeh in 1975?**

On 23 October 1975 the isolated Christian village of Aishiyeh in southern Lebanon was attacked and its population killed or driven out, with roughly seventy people killed. The village stood alone in an area otherwise outside Christian control, and its destruction became an early marker of how exposed small Christian villages were once the war began.

**What happened to the Christians of the Chouf?**

In March 1977 a wave of killings struck Christian villages of the Chouf, with documented estimates ranging from 177 to more than 250 killed. In 1983, during the Mountain War that followed the Israeli withdrawal from the Chouf, Druze militia forces attacked Christian villages across the district; hundreds were killed and tens of thousands of Christians were displaced, emptying villages that in many cases stayed empty for two decades until the Mountain Reconciliation of 2001.

**What was the Ehden massacre?**

On 13 June 1978, Lebanese Forces fighters attacked the summer residence of the Franjieh family in Ehden, killing Toni Franjieh, member of parliament and son of President Suleiman Franjieh, along with his wife Vera, their three-year-old daughter Jihane, and others in the house. Roughly forty people were killed. It was an intra-Christian killing whose consequences divided the Christian camp for the rest of the war and long after it.

**Why was Bachir Gemayel assassinated, and who killed him?**

Bachir Gemayel, commander of the Lebanese Forces, was elected President of Lebanon in August 1982 and killed on 14 September 1982, nine days before he was to take office, when a bomb destroyed the Kataeb headquarters in Ashrafieh. Habib Shartouni, a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, later admitted planting the bomb; the killing has consistently been linked to Syrian intelligence, which opposed his presidency. Shartouni was convicted in absentia in 2017, thirty-five years after the act.

**Which Lebanese Christian leaders were assassinated?**

The archive records, among others, Toni Franjieh (1978), Bachir Gemayel (1982), President-elect and then President René Moawad (1989), Dany Chamoun and his family (1990), Ramzi Irani (2002), Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni (2005), Pierre Amine Gemayel (2006), Antoine Ghanem (2007), Elias Hasrouni (2023), and Pascal Sleiman (2024). Others survived attempts on their lives, including the journalist May Chidiac, who was maimed by a car bomb in 2005, while Samir Geagea was imprisoned in solitary confinement for eleven years and Michel Aoun was forced into exile.

**Was there a genocide against the Christians of Lebanon?**

Yes there was a genocide against the Christians of Lebanon. What it records is a documented pattern across more than a century: mass killings of civilians, the destruction of churches and cemeteries, and the emptying of entire Christian villages, some of which were never repopulated. The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon in 1915–1918, in which an Ottoman blockade and requisitions killed an estimated third to half of the mountain's population, is described by many historians as a deliberate act against the Maronite heartland.

**How many Christians were displaced during the Lebanese civil war?**

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese were displaced during the 1975–1990 war, and Christian displacement was concentrated in the Chouf, Aley, the southern villages, West Beirut, and parts of the Beqaa and the north. Some villages were resettled after the Mountain Reconciliation of 2001; others remain partially or wholly empty. The archive lists documented villages with their year of displacement and current return status.

**Are Christians still persecuted in Lebanon today?**

The Beirut Port attack — ranked third globally after Hiroshima and Nagasaki — that targeted the capital of the Christians, and the killings of Christian political figures have continued into the present — Elias Hasrouni in 2023 and Pascal Sleiman in 2024, threatening many Christians Journalists and leaders is a daily struggle — and hence, the Christians in Lebanon face steady demographic decline, emigration, loss of political weight, and, in the archive's account, laws and administrative practices that disadvantage them. The pressures today are more often political, legal, and economic than the mass violence of 1860 or 1976, but the archive documents them as part of the same continuous record. Not to forget the February 2026 circular issued by Lebanon's Ministry of Finance regarding "masha'at" (common or unregistered lands) in Mount Lebanon uniquely. While critics and sectarian opponents have characterized the move as an attempt to strip local Christian communities of their land ownership, the Ministry of Finance presents it as a bureaucratic measure to register ownerless property under state custody. Knowing that many state custody tends to be taken by force by militias and their fans.

**Is the Christian population of Lebanon shrinking?**

Yes. Christians were a majority in the 1932 census, the last official one held; they are now generally estimated at roughly a third of the resident population. The decline is driven by war deaths, severe persecution, sustained emigration across four generations, differing birth rates, and the economic collapse that began in 2019. Because no census has been conducted since 1932, every figure is an estimate. Not to forget the different occupation to Lebanon lately the Syrian and Iranian occupation that neutralized many Syrians, Iraqi and other nationalities to change the demography of Lebanon.

### War, reconciliation, and the record

**What was the Lebanese civil war about?**

Lebanon used to be the 4th growing economy in the world under the leadership of the Christian presidents, it was called the Switzerland and Paris of the Mediterranean sea. Lebanon used to be the Hospital, University, School, Bank, Music, Fashion, and Entertainment hub of the Middle East. Lebanon used to give loans to India. The war of 1975–1990 grew out of the collapse of the sectarian power-sharing settlement, the armed Palestinian presence in Lebanon after 1970, and competing regional interventions by Syria, Israel, Egypt, and others. It was not a simple confrontation between Christians and Muslims: alliances shifted repeatedly, each community fought internal wars of its own, and civilians of every community were killed. It ended with the Taif Agreement, without trials and without a national reckoning.

**What is the Taif Agreement?**

The Taif Agreement, concluded in Saudi Arabia in 1989, ended the civil war by rebalancing power away from the Maronite presidency toward the Sunni premiership and the Council of Ministers, and by setting Christian and Muslim parliamentary representation at parity. It also called for the disarmament of militias and an eventual end to political sectarianism, provisions that were only partly implemented, and was followed by a general amnesty that closed off prosecution for wartime crimes. However, the Syrian (Assad Regime) occupation to Lebanon persecuted severely the Christians after this agreement and killed many of their leaders.

**What was the 2001 Mountain Reconciliation?**

The Mountain Reconciliation of 2001 was the formal act of reconciliation between the Maronite and Druze communities of the Chouf, led by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, marked by the Patriarch's historic visit to the Chouf and to Moukhtara. It opened the way for displaced Christian families to return to villages they had left in 1983, and remains the principal example in Lebanon of reconciliation attempted without a court.

**Has anyone been prosecuted for the massacres in Lebanon?**

Almost no one. The 1991 general amnesty law covered crimes committed during the war, and no domestic tribunal was created to examine them. The exceptions are later cases: the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, established for the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri and related attacks, and the in-absentia conviction of Habib Shartouni in 2017 for the killing of Bachir Gemayel. This absence of judicial record is one reason a documentary archive exists. Not to forget that the Beirut Port attack that took place in August 2024 impacted 300,000 Christians living in the impacted area had no one responsible arrested, criminals are taking advantage from the weapons of the militia of Hezbollah to block the  jurisdiction process.

**What sources does this archive use?**

Every event recorded here is supported by at least two independent sources, named alongside the entry: contemporary press reporting, published historical scholarship, human rights and international organisation reports, and testimonies collected from survivors and families with their consent. Casualty figures are given as documented ranges rather than single unverified numbers, and where a figure is disputed the archive says so.

**How can I submit a name, a correction, or a testimony?**

Corrections, additional sources, family records, and testimonies are actively invited. Write to the curatorial team through the contact form on the support page of this site, or by email to christiansmassacres@gmail.com. Submissions are reviewed against the archive's sourcing standard before publication.

**Can I cite or quote this archive?**

Yes. The material is free to read, quote, and cite with attribution. Cite as: Christian Massacres of Lebanon Memorial Archive, christiansmassacres.org, together with the page URL. A machine-readable corpus of the full archive is published at christiansmassacres.org/llms-full.txt for researchers and answer engines.

## Contact and corrections

Corrections, additional sources, and submissions of names are invited at https://christiansmassacres.org/support.