ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD

The Christian Independents for Lebanon initiative is giving Hezbollah a platform to promote messages aligned with its ideology within a community where support for the group’s “resistance” is limited, according to a new assessment by the Alma Research and Education Center published Sunday.

In late September, the Independents for Lebanon group hosted the “Christian Conference in Support of the South,” which was attended by several officials, including Bishop Elias Nassar, representing Bkerke, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab. However, the conference was not an official event of the Maronite Church, according to the center.

The conference presented Israel as the source of a national threat in southern Lebanon, removing Hezbollah’s responsibility for the war, and painted the Iran-backed group as part of a Lebanese “resistance” movement rather than an arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Delegations from the Christian group responsible for the conference previously met with Hezbollah’s secretary general in 2024 and received a Hezbollah delegation at its headquarters last year.

Hezbollah trying to gain Christian support for 'resistance' against Israel

“The organization’s importance to Hezbollah does not stem from significant electoral strength, but from its ability to give expression to Hezbollah-aligned messages within the Christian sphere,” Dr. Zoe Levornik noted. “When Christian figures portray Israel as the principal threat and the ‘resistance’ as a national necessity, this helps Hezbollah argue that the justification for its weapons extends beyond the Shi’ite community and represents a broader Lebanese outlook.”

Children play outside the “Our Lady of Hope” church during an Easter Mass, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, in Beirut, Lebanon, April 5, 2026.
Children play outside the “Our Lady of Hope” church during an Easter Mass, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, in Beirut, Lebanon, April 5, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS)

Despite the views expressed by the movement, a poll by the International Information Company in Lebanon in May found that 77% of Maronite Christians and 72% of Orthodox Christians would support a peace agreement with Israel, with just over half blaming Hezbollah for the renewed conflict.

Over the past decade, Lebanese media has intermittently reported on Hezbollah’s attempts to recruit Christians, Druze, and Sunnis from the Bekaa Valley.