Hezbollah flag
(Photo courtesy mhrezaa/Unsplash)

The agreement said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to launch a pilot program in two areas near the “yellow line,” which marks Israeli-held territory. Under the plan, Hezbollah would be dismantled, and the Lebanese army would gain control of those areas.

Hezbollah, which did not take part in the negotiations, rejected the agreement. Hezbollah MP Hassan Falallah told Al Mayadeen that Beirut would be unable to enforce the deal unless it was willing to risk a civil war.

Next steps

Key military leaders met yesterday to discuss how to implement the pact. The proposed “framework” for future talks between Israel and Lebanon drew mixed reactions from Lebanese citizens.

Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says Friday’s trilateral agreement between Israel, Lebanon, and the U.S. is important because “Lebanon, as a nation, never has declared a war against Israel, nor has Israel declared a war against Lebanon.”

Instead, Melki says, “It has always been Hezbollah, now, and other paramilitary groups in the past decades, that have used the Lebanese territory as a launching pad for attacks against Israel.”

Civilians pay

Meanwhile, Lebanon is paying a heavy price for Hezbollah’s wars. The current conflict follows fighting that Hezbollah began in 2023 in defense of Hamas.

“For two years, Hezbollah and Israel have been tit-for-tat shelling each other in southern Lebanon. 11,000 homes have been destroyed, more than 4000 individuals have been killed, and more than 13,000 individuals have been injured,” Melki says.

“All those are innocent civilians; we’re not counting militants. Add to it the 1.2 million internally displaced folks, predominantly people from southern Lebanon, fleeing that region to Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.”

Help and hope

Heart for Lebanon helps people caught in the middle, Christian and Muslim alike. Find ways to support that work here.

(Photo courtesy Heart for Lebanon)

“There are more than 33 small villages along the borders between Lebanon and Israel where Christian villagers live and are completely disconnected from the rest of the world,” Melki says.

“We’re one of the very few faith-based Christian ministries that are able to reach these villages.”

Working alongside nongovernmental organizations, Heart for Lebanon helps organize an aid convoy to Christian villages in the war zone. First, the team gathers requests: “We receive a list of the material needed by those villagers through the municipality or elders in the village,” Melki says.

Next, the convoy is assembled: “Every NGO will bring in what they have as supplies, put them in a convoy led by the Red Cross, and then negotiate the safe passage of those trucks to the villages.”

Header image depicts Hezbollah flag. Photo courtesy Paul Keller via Flickr/CC-BY-NC 2.0.

Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says, “Our prayer is that those negotiations will go forth productively and will come up with some very affirmative steps to keep the ceasefire holding and lead into a long-term peace agreement.”

So far, talks have done little to stop fighting on the ground. Melki says, “Prior to this last ceasefire, there have been more than a dozen ceasefires that did not last for more than an hour or two hours.”

The longest pause after three months of war began Saturday night. The ceasefire came as a result of a U.S.-Iran agreement to stop fighting on all fronts – including Lebanon.

Because today’s peace talks involve Israel and the Lebanese government, the Iranian proxy Hezbollah remains a wildcard.

“Neither the Lebanese government nor the US nor Israel wants a seat for Hezbollah at the (negotiating) table,” Melki says.

“Our presidents made it very clear: ‘We welcome every party that wants to help, but no one negotiates on behalf of Lebanon except its government.’”

(Photo courtesy Heart for Lebanon)

Meanwhile, suffering continues. Fighting has killed over 4,000 people since March, and more than 1 million have been displaced.

Heart for Lebanon is meeting needs in Christ’s name, and your support keeps the work going. Learn about giving options here.

“This is our golden opportunity, not only to care and support families in great need, but also to bring the Gospel in meaningful and tangible ways [to] people who have been deceived [and] indoctrinated,” Melki says.

“Our goal is to make sure that every family we touch, every individual we serve, we tell them of the Jesus that we believe in.”

Header and story images courtesy of Heart for Lebanon. 

Samuel of Redemptive Stories says the regional situation is complicated, yet connected.

“It’s pretty much everyone against Israel, in one way, shape, or form. [Türkiye] is certainly part of that, and has always been anti-Israel, especially Erdogan,” he explains.

Neighboring Türkiye is now weighing in. President Tayyip Erdogan says regional instability could lead to more refugees and financial pressure.

“He’s basically trying to communicate that Lebanon is a sovereign nation, it should take care of itself,” Samuel says.

Erdogan’s comments also imply “that the effects of Israel’s continued attacks destabilize the region, including making it more difficult for Syria to stand on its own two legs,” he adds.

Yet hope remains. One Kurdish pastor recently told Samuel about the Gospel growth he sees among ethnic minorities.

“In the midst of all of this chaos in our region is an opportunity for the Gospel to go forth, and we’re seeing that, in the north part of Syria, among the Kurds, God is doing something special,” Samuel says.

“Many, many are coming to faith and following Jesus.”

Gospel growth

Samuel also describes Gospel movements among Syria’s Alawite and Druze communities following violence. ISIS, massacres, and attacks on minority communities have caused people to ask deeper questions and, in some cases, turn to Jesus.

(AI photo generated by ChatGPT)

Samuel says last spring, “There was a massacre of many people, some say thousands,” in Syria’s Alawite community.

“Now, in churches and homes across the coastal region of Syria, there are hundreds of new believers after all of that occurred.”

Later in 2025, Syria’s Druze community fell victim. “A brother was just there recently, and he told of over 65 people who have come to faith in Christ and been baptized,” Samuel says.

“It’s in that instability that God does something. His Spirit moves, and people are drawn to Him.”

Local believers are responding with boldness. Partners in places like Syria and Lebanon continue to care for neighbors and share the Gospel despite danger and instability. Will you pray for them?

“On all fronts, we just encourage them to be faithful in whatever task that is before them, the calling that God has put on their lives, and God will be faithful to bring about His good purposes,” Samuel says.

Header and story images are representative AI photos generated by ChatGPT. 

Explosions in Lebanon. (Photo courtesy of SAT-7)

As fighting has continued in recent months, more than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced.

John Cerniglia, president of SAT-7 USA, says, “Keep in mind, in Lebanon, you’ve got about 5.8 million people – that’s about the size of Metro Atlanta, just to put this in context here in the United States. Twenty percent of them…have been displaced in recent weeks, particularly on the southern border between Lebanon and Israel.”

Sharing Hope with Displaced Children

SAT-7 broadcasts Gospel hope via satellite television across Lebanon. Their program, You Are Not Alone, recently featured an episode made by kids, for kids fleeing the violence.

“Our program was centered on children who are being kept at a youth home where they’re provided with food and clothing,” says Cerniglia.

“We have the opportunity to share the Gospel, Good News, with children and with content that is appropriate for them – just reminding them of the biblical truth that you’re not alone.”

The families sheltering at St. Anne Youth Home are hoping to return to their homes in the south when the conflict ends. (Photo, caption courtesy of SAT-7)

Another one of the ministry’s most powerful recent projects came together under extraordinary circumstances. “We have a children’s song that was created by our Beirut team…and it’s called Your Peace, Jesus, Is Our Joy,” Cerniglia says. “It was literally recorded while bombs were falling across Beirut.”

The response surprised even SAT-7 staff.

“Children who were watching it were so moved by it, they started calling into our studios in Beirut and began singing the song back,” he says. “This message is spreading that you can have peace in Jesus even when there is no earthly peace.”

Requests for Prayer

Please pray the encouragement of Psalm 46 over displaced families and children: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Ps. 46:1)

Cerniglia reflects, “This has become a bit of a rallying cry for our brothers and sisters…living in Lebanon. That’s what we try to convey, of course, to all people, including children.”

Learn more about SAT-7’s ministry at sat7usa.org.

Header photo courtesy of SAT-7.

For many Lebanese families, the result is confusion, uncertainty, and more displacement.

Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon explains, “Hezbollah is just saying, ‘We’re not stopping, we’re not stopping,’ and Israel is saying, ‘Okay, you don’t want to stop? Then we’re going to bomb, and we’re going to even target places that have not been targeted before.’ So they’re adding troops into Lebanon, the invasion is going deeper into Lebanon, and more lands, and more people.”

(Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon)

Meanwhile, humanitarian needs continue to grow. “We had maybe 200,000-300,000 people who [were] newly displaced just yesterday,” Nuna says.

“More people are being displaced, more people are homeless, more people are on the streets, more people don’t know where to go, and it’s very difficult to even understand when will this end?”

TM Lebanon is assisting displaced families. However, “At the end of the day, we are very limited,” Nuna says.

“Somebody called me with 55 families arriving yesterday…. This [is] a Christian village that had to move. They stayed as much as they could in the south to protect their village, to protect their homes. But at the end of the day, they had to move out.”

Even so, she says one of the ministry’s greatest tools is spiritual encouragement.

“Our main help is encouragement [and] prayer. We pray a lot for those people and that God will find a solution, that God will hasten the time.”

(Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon)

As conflict drags on, Nuna asks believers around the world to pray for more than a political solution.

“Pray that the Lord quickens the time, and that things will calm down quickly, and that He will prevail over all rulers and authorities and powers and governments and everything else.”

Please pray for displaced families across Lebanon, for Christ’s peace in the region, and for opportunities for Christians to demonstrate the hope of Jesus amid uncertainty. You can also support ministries serving vulnerable communities through TM Lebanon at tm-lebanon.com.

Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon.

On Monday, Israel ordered the residents of seven villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate. Two of the villages are a mere 20-minute drive from Heart for Lebanon’s Hope Center. 

“We still can operate from our center, we still can reach out to people, but you could tell the fear that it can become another battleground,” says Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki.

Peace talks brokered by the United States haven’t fully collapsed yet. However, renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and the threat of Israeli strikes on Beirut, have thrown the talks off track. 

“If things keep getting worse, Israel might push the evacuation line beyond the Zahrani River, which means then our center would become part of those areas that need to be completely evacuated,” says Melki.

(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

Heart for Lebanon’s summer outreach is on the line, including their Summer of Hope programs.

“This is VBS on steroids, a lot of fun activities, a lot of music, teaching, games, Bible stories, drama, singing,” says Melki. These programs give kids the space to be kids again and to learn about God. 

The Summer of Hope has already begun in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. But for their Hope Center in southern Lebanon, the team is developing an alternative plan.

“Instead of bringing the students to our center for our Summer of Hope ministry, we will take them to safer areas in southern Lebanon — places where they can play freely, where they don’t hear those drones over them all the time, or hear the air strikes,” says Melki.

Safety is becoming harder to find, however. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Forces issued evacuation warnings for three more villages in southern Lebanon. The IDF has also warned Christian neighborhoods of Tyre that Hezbollah militants are among them. If residents do not expel Hezbollah, the IDF said, they will order more evacuations and take action. Tyre is less than a 40-minute drive away from Heart for Lebanon’s closest Hope Center.

Find your place in the story

Pray that Lebanese believers can continue to share Christ in word and deed.

(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

“The number of families that we are reaching to help keeps growing. In fact, the resources are very limited in the entire nation. We are coming alongside other churches and other church ministries and faith-based organizations providing aid to those small entities,” says Melki. 

For example, on June 1 alone, Melki says Heart for Lebanon provided 540 food parcels to sister churches and faith-based NGOs who had run out of resources.

“Pray for wisdom, pray for safety, pray for perseverance, and pray for the much-needed resources, so we can continue to do what God has called us to do: help lead people from despair to hope in Christ, and Christ alone,” says Melki. 

Connect with Heart for Lebanon and learn how you can help resource their ministry in further prayer and financial support.

Header photo of Summer of Hope outreach courtesy of Heart for Lebanon via Facebook.

Secretary Marco Rubio attends working-level peace talks with Israel and Lebanon at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)

Tensions reached a boiling point yesterday when Israel responded to Hezbollah attacks, carrying out its deepest incursion since the 2000 war. U.S. President Donald Trump described a de-escalation between the warring sides on Monday afternoon:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting after he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanese militant group through mediators.

Trump announced the development in a social media post following a call with Netanyahu, whose forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter-century. Trump there would be no Israeli troops “going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.”

Cease-fire hopes falter

As with most Middle East conflicts, the latest escalation doesn’t occur in a vacuum.

“Last Thursday and Friday, a military delegation from the Lebanese army met at the Pentagon with an Israeli delegation, which is the first time in the history of those two nations that military representatives meet together,” Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki explains.

“We were hoping that the outcome of that meeting would come to a ceasefire and some sort of an agreement on the Israelis’ withdrawal from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah’s disarmament,” he continues.

“Unfortunately, things are going in the wrong direction. That’s not what we’ve been hoping for. That’s not what we’ve been praying for.”

On Sunday, Lebanese media reported progress toward a new cease-fire agreement in U.S.-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon.

“The Lebanese government needs to figure out a way to contain Hezbollah and convince Hezbollah, for the better of the whole nation, that a cease-fire should be brokered and brokered soon,” Melki says.

“Iran, on the other hand, has pulled away from its negotiations with the U.S., which is not a good indicator at all, because that means even those negotiations seem to be stalled and might lead to further confrontation in the entire region.”

In a season where many feel forgotten, we believe that the Gospel is best shared through a ministry of presence.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

Christian villages face shortages

Monday was “A very, very violent day in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, in the Bekaa Valley, as well as in the northern villages of Israel,” Melki says.

“Hezbollah continues to shell Israel using drones and other military means, and Israel continues to retaliate against Hezbollah. We have seen a very high spike in casualties and damage all around.”

Most businesses are closed in southern Lebanon, and essential supplies are hard to find.

“There are a lot of small Christian villages right at the borders between Israel and Lebanon, and they’ve been under a significant economic and military siege. We sent 700 food parcels with the help of the Red Cross to those villages,” Melki says.

Each delivery offers encouragement to believers and a Gospel introduction to those who don’t know Christ. You can support a family in need here.

Pray for an end to the violence in Lebanon.

“Tuesday, June 2, and Wednesday, June 3, a State Department-brokered meeting will take place. Civilian delegates from the Lebanese government and the Israeli government will meet, and we hope that those meetings will turn out a little better,” Melki says.

Header and story images courtesy Heart for Lebanon. 

“Israel really supports like a multinational, multi-faith community in its country, and we are all witnesses to that,” he says. 

In late April, two incidents brought a surge of attention to Israel. One was an Israeli soldier destroying a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. Another was a Jewish man attacking a French nun in Jerusalem.

Shifman points out that the Israeli government took swift action and condemned both events. 

“That Jewish man [was] in prison for a month,” he says of the IDF soldier in Lebanon. “You can’t use the word ‘persecution’ in that case. That was kind of a one-time thing.”

In the Jerusalem incident, the man who committed the attack was “charged with assault causing tangible bodily harm motivated by hostility toward a religious group,” The Times of Israel reports. 

“When you see the whole video of this attack on that nun — basically, there were Jewish people actually protecting her, helping her, and restraining that man actually from harming her further,” says Shifman. 

Where pressure does come from

Although Israel’s government and broader society do not systematically persecute believers in Christ, Shifman clarifies that pressure does come from some religious Jewish communities. 

Groups like Yad L’Achim openly oppose what they call “missionaries and cults.” From their perspective, their actions protect Jews. But Shifman says that, from the victims’ perspective, their actions are questionable. Some instances can even turn into a court case over individual rights and freedoms. 

Because of the influence of groups like Yad L’Achim, Messianic Jews may lose jobs or business contracts, or face other forms of social bullying.

“The religious groups basically control all the spheres of life of the Israeli society, I would say this way. Like the birth, the death, the wedding, you need to get a blessing from the rabbi,” says Shifman. 

“They can make a phone call to your boss or to your company, and say, ‘This gentleman or this lady is a believer in Jesus, and we don’t think that she should work at your company, because you are a faithful Jew.’ They can print out your picture and post it on the streets of your neighborhood and tell everybody that you believe in Jesus, and you betrayed your country.”

This kind of persecution happens in many different places, Shifman says. Even so, believers have direct channels to report serious concerns to Israeli authorities. “Praise the Lord for that, and thank them really,” he says. 

Prayer for the bigger picture of Israel

“We’re just a month-and-a-half after one of the most devastating wars in the history of Israel with Iran. It’s pretty heavy on people, you know. It’s still hard for them to get back to their life,” Shifman says. 

Rising crime rates among youth are also deeply concerning.

“Some young guys have been killed by other young people, and it’s just within Israeli society. That’s another terrible thing that is taking place,” says Shifman. 

“Please pray for healing. We know that the healing comes from Lord Jesus, who can heal your body, heart, spirit, and your soul. They need that restoration and recovery after this post-war period. People are anxious.”

Pray for the gospel of Christ to spread even to those who oppose it. Shifman says his team at TWR Israel is going through the same physical, spiritual, and emotional challenges as others in Israel. They need God’s healing, but at the same time, they remain on mission.

“They are eager. They still want to share the good news of Jesus with their neighbors and with other Jews in the country, including the religious ones,” says Shifman.

Learn more about TWR Israel here.

Header photo: Steeple in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo courtesy of Jonny Gios/Unsplash)

Economy Minister Amer Bisat says Lebanon has lost an estimated $2 billion since the beginning of March, approximately 7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah renewed strikes on Israel on March 2, effectively ending a 2024 ceasefire.

According to analysts, the latest clashes between Hezbollah and Israel are costing Lebanon’s economy up to $100 million a day.

“In October 2023, Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into 14 months of war with Israel,” Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says.

“You add that war, plus what’s going on right now – we’ve been in almost two and a half years of major destruction of the southern part of Lebanon.”

Economic struggles

The latest economic drain couldn’t come at a worse time.

Following the financial collapse in 2019, Lebanon lost approximately 64 percent of its nominal GDP in one of the world’s most severe economic crises since the 19th century. Then, the Lebanese pound collapsed, losing 98 percent of its value practically overnight.

Unfinished reforms, overlapping crises, and widespread destruction in southern Lebanon make sustained recovery nearly impossible.

“You have anywhere between $20 and $22 billion of destruction; so many villages that have been completely wiped out, completely destroyed,” Melki says.

“Recently, the interior ministry in Lebanon declared that over 42 percent of the Lebanese population is living at the poverty line, or even below that.”

Believers’ response

These monumental challenges create more work for Heart for Lebanon.

May strength, comfort, and restoration reach every family navigating the difficulties of this time.
(Photo, caption courtesy Heart for Lebanon)

“We had to add 2,600 new families to our beneficiary list. This is over and above the 5,200 families that we were helping early in 2026, and this is only a drop in the bucket of the needs around us,” Melki says.

Yet more work means more opportunities to share the Gospel, especially as summer begins. Pray for wisdom for ministry leaders. Support a family in need here.

“We are in serious conversations as a management team about some of our programs, how should we shift some, align others? Maybe even create new programs,” Melki says.

“To be more effective and capable, and to reach new territories in Lebanon where IDPs live, we have forged a partnership with 50 local churches. Through those small local churches, we can provide support and the resources they need to love and care for people in their own circles of influence.”

Header and story images courtesy of Heart for Lebanon. 

(AI-generated photo by ChatGPT)

Nuna of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says, “The peace talk is not just military; though, of course, it involves the military side, it’s much more than this.”

As part of the peace talks, U.S. President Donald Trump is urging Lebanon’s government to repeal a 1955 law.

“In our Constitution, there is a [clause] that says Lebanon has no connection with Israel, so we need to change that clause,” Nuna explains.

Under that 1955 law, “everything is very, very closed, and people are not allowed to have any communication with Israelis,” she continues.

“We don’t have the right to have any communication – by phone, by message, anything – with anyone in Israel. [If suspected,] you have to go to Security, where they will ask you questions, take your phone, and check it.”

If negotiations succeed and the Lebanese government normalizes relations with Israel, Nuna says, “Everything will change, not just on the political ground, but it’s going to change the whole face of Lebanon.”

The cost of peace

Although a ceasefire has been in place since mid-April, the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah continues to attack Israel.

Hezbollah flag
(Photo courtesy mhrezaa/Unsplash)

“Hezbollah is affiliated with Iran and wants to keep Iranian influence over Lebanon, but Lebanon is trying to get free from it. The whole contention is between these two,” Nuna says.

Lebanese people remain divided over an alliance with Iran. Though Hezbollah represents approximately one-third of Lebanon’s population – followers of Shia Islam – representatives of other major groups seek peace.

“Lebanon submitted an official complaint against Iran for the first time this week. This is unprecedented,” Nuna says.

Lebanon’s government is taking steps toward peace with Israel and independence from Iran – but at a cost. “The Shiite community is really strong in saying, ‘We don’t want this,’” Nuna says.

“The threats in the streets [are] that ‘We’re going to turn our weapons against all the people who are for the change and for the peace treaty.’ It’s becoming like a civil war.”

Nuna says these threats raise an important question: “Do we go through a civil war so that we can have peace, or do we forget the peace and keep the status quo in Lebanon with Hezbollah in charge?”

Christian aid

Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has driven more than one million people from their homes in southern Lebanon. “There are so many displaced people,” Nuna says.

(Graphic courtesy Triumphant Mercy Lebanon)

“They have no homes, no shelter, no food, no revenue, no work – nothing. We’re still there to help them, but we’re also trying to talk about this peace.”

Pray for Lebanese Christians as they care for displaced people in Jesus’ name, and partner with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon to support relief efforts.

“We need to not only bring in humanitarian aid, but also talk about God’s purposes and God’s ways and God’s plan, and bring people into alignment with God,” Nuna says.

“It’s not just a one-way Gospel, just salvation and that’s it, it’s also realignment with God’s purposes.”

Header image depicts working-level peace talks between Israel and Lebanon at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)