MANSOURI, Lebanon — The war reached Mona Khalil’s home before it reached the turtles she had spent more than two decades protecting. On 4 June, an Israeli strike hit the Orange House, her family home on the coast of Mansouri, severely injuring Khalil and a domestic worker. Khalil, 76, died from her wounds two weeks later, leaving behind one of Lebanon’s most unusual environmental legacies — a narrow strip of Mediterranean beach where generations of volunteers learned to protect endangered sea turtles in a country where war, pollution, coastal development, and political neglect have repeatedly competed with conservation.

Thousands of people attended the 41st annual Lebanese Food Festival Sept. 11-13 at St. Anthony Maronite Church in Glen Allen, an event that moved from its

BEIRUT — The Syriac Maronite Union–Tur Levnon launched an effort to persuade Duolingo, one of the world’s most widely used language-learning platforms, to add Syriac to its growing catalogue of languages, bringing a centuries-old language of the Middle East into an app used daily by millions of learners around the world. The initiative builds on Tur Levnon’s broader campaign to revive Syriac in Lebanon through education, cultural awareness and religious life.

St. Ann Maronite Church in Scranton hosted its 31st annual Lebanese festival, bringing families and community members together.

By Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar | President of the Syriac Maronite Union – Tur Levnon Some Lebanese fear that they could be deprived of what they consider the country's only source of national income. It makes them completely opposed to normalization, even to peace, with Israel. According to these analysts and political figures, Lebanon can only survive thanks to money sent by its diaspora living in the Arab Gulf countries.

BEIT MERY (BETH MORYO), Tur Levnon —The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist (Mor Yuhanon) at al-Qalaa in Beit Mery, administered by the Syriac Maronite Antonine Order, stands on a site whose history reaches from ancient Phoenician worship through the Roman and Byzantine periods to the Christian monastic tradition that continues there today. Archaeological remains at Deir al-Qalaa include the ruins of a major Roman sanctuary associated with the god of dancing Baal Marqod, as well as a Byzantine church and mosaics.