In a village in northern Lebanon, a crucifix hangs next to a portrait of one of Hezbollah’s most revered leaders.
The Catholic town of Ras Baalbek, which has two Byzantine churches, is working with the Iranian-backed militant group to try to preserve its heritage and protect its 6,000 devout residents from attack by Islamic State (IS) terrorists in nearby Syria.
So close are the two communities that Hezbollah buys a Christmas tree each year for the villagers.
Rifaat Nasrallah, 60, a quarryman whose marble sarcophagi line the village cemetery, asks: “How can we as Christians in this area not be with Hezbollah? They protect our churches.
“They helped us fight IS. During Covid they gave us free care in their hospitals. When there was no electricity they gave us generators. How can we not be with them now?”
An alliance between a Catholic village and a Shia militia will surprise many, but it reflects the complexity of the region and the power of realpolitik.
Mr Nasrallah is hosting The Telegraph in his front room beneath the crucifix and the picture of Hassan Nasrallah (no relation), the secretary general of Hezbollah, who was killed in 2024. Military planes and drones can be heard in the distance.
Israel has been bombing Hezbollah positions across Lebanon since the militant group entered the war in the Middle East on Iran’s behalf on its third day. More than 1,000 people have been killed, with a million more displaced.
Does Mr Nasrallah not worry that Ras Baalbek’s relationship with Hezbollah could place the village in greater danger? He answers with an emphatic “no”.
He says: “The relationship between the village and Hezbollah is stronger than with the Pope. The Vatican did nothing for us when ISIS attacked [previously] but Hezbollah spilt their blood to protect us. The Pope only has prayers.”
It is not an academic question. On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had uncovered a Hezbollah tunnel stocked with weapons near a church in southern Lebanon.
An IDF spokesman said: “Since the establishment of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, it has systematically worked to exploit the Christian population in Lebanon and turn their areas into battle arenas against Israel.”
The Bekaa Valley is beautiful, dangerous and cosmopolitan in equal measure. Christian, Sunni and Shia Muslim villages sit cheek by jowl.
As The Telegraph drives there, Israeli jets and drones hunt Hezbollah positions in the hills to the west, after the militants fired one of their long-range ground-to-ground missiles towards “the entity” the previous night.
These missiles are large and are said to be launched from adapted shipping containers carried by articulated trucks, making the journey hazardous.
The threat that originally brought Christians of Ras Baalbek and Hezbollah close came from the east. The village is in the foothills of the arid Qalamoun mountains, over which it is possible to trek to a few miles into Syria.
It was from there, from 2013 to 2017 at the height of the Syrian civil war, that IS fighters launched several assaults on the village, threatening to wipe it from the map and behead its Catholic residents.
Mr Nasrallah says: “The first attack came from a village called Qasr, just seven kilometres from here in Syria. IS came over the hills and reached the edge of the village and kidnapped some of my workers and tortured them.
“At first, it was only Hezbollah and the villagers who fought back against the Salafists. We fought together with missiles and rockets. Many were wounded and some died. I was almost killed with shrapnel in my back from a mortar.”
Mr Nasrallah does not say so, but the bond between the villagers and Hezbollah is a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” – or that’s how it started.
During the civil war, Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters in support of the Iranian-backed Assad regime. Their adversaries included jihadist organisations, including IS and the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat Al-Nusra.
So, when IS first struck on Lebanese soil in 2013, the group was quick to defend the villagers – unlike the Lebanese army, which only became involved later.
Mr Nasrallah says: “The army was weak. The leader of the army at the time was not strong. He did not have the political support for the fight. Only later, in 2015 and 2017, did they help.”
Two soldiers from the Lebanese army, whose political leaders have recently vowed to disarm Hezbollah, sit with us in Mr Nasrallah’s home as he explains the local politics and the bizarre alliances they have bred. They nod along as Mr Nasrallah’s wife serves us tea and biscuits, their M16 assault rifles propped up at their sides.
One of the two soldiers speaks up: “I lost five friends. One Humvee [military vehicle] we were following was blown up by a mine. Three colleagues died in that. We had good quality soldiers, but at first we lacked logistics and equipment.”
In 2017, the Lebanese army took over from Hezbollah and defeated IS – something it is rightly credited with in much of Lebanon. The Dawn of the Jurds (hills) anti-terror operation was documented in official dispatches at the time.
An official army memo from Aug 20, 2017, reads: “The army liberated today around 30 square kilometres, making the total liberated space since the beginning ... now around 80 Km2 out of 120 Km2. During the military operations, three soldiers fell and a fourth was severely injured as a result of the explosion of a landmine which hit a military vehicle.
“Moreover, two other soldiers were slightly injured during the clashes while the operations resulted in the death of 15 terrorists and the destruction of 12 posts containing caves, tunnels, communication paths, fortifications and different weapons.”
Today in Lebanon, there are again widespread fears, so far unsubstantiated, that Syria will become involved in the war.
Hezbollah suspects the Israelis are making use of Syrian airspace to launch commando raids on places such as Nabi Sheet, which was attacked on March 6. The Christians of Ras Baalbek are worried about renewed attacks from IS and other Salafist groups.
Mr Nasrallah has grave concerns about Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new president of Syria, who once led Jabhat Al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate. He says: “His history speaks for itself. We have a saying, ‘You cannot change a wild animal, he is what he is’. And he is at our border.”
There is no evidence Mr al-Sharaa has any plans to attack Lebanon, let alone Christian villages. Most analysts say he has enough on his plate stabilising Syria. Last week, the IDF announced that it was again bombing parts of the Al-Suwayda area of Syria’s south in defence of Druze communities there.
Nevertheless, fears persist, and it is binding the Christians of Ras Baalbek and Hezbollah ever closer. So much so that Mr Nasrallah says: “Israel is our first enemy ... Hezbollah is our friend.”
Mr Nasrallah and a Shia refugee from a Hezbollah village further down the valley recall thousands of Israeli air strikes during the 13 months of the last ceasefire, which ended when the Iran war started.
This period, says refugee Ahmad, 30, was the cruellest part of the war. He says: “There were violations every day. Bombs in the front of our houses. Drones always overhead. There were mothers that saw their children killed in front of them and children who saw their parents killed.
“There were cases where the Israelis would call and say, ‘Do you want to die with your family or die alone?’. They would then walk out and be killed in front of their children. How much courage does that take? And how much cruelty?”
Israel says all its air strikes during the ceasefire were in response to Hezbollah violations. Nevertheless, the toll was significant.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon recorded more than 10,000 ceasefire violations over the period, including air and ground incursions. The Lebanese authorities reported 331 deaths and 945 injuries in the first 12 months alone.
This has left Ahmad and many other people traumatised. The Telegraph asks Mr Nasrallah again if he worries about the future.
He says: “The moment they (IS) attack, there will be horrors here. Their ideology is the opposite of ours. They will kill Christians and Shias ... that is why we stand with Hezbollah.”
Gesturing to the portrait of Hezbollah’s former general secretary on the wall, he adds: “Nasrallah used to say the war would be hard and would be long, but in the end, there will be victory. In the end, good will prevail.”
