Al-Rahi Begins Pastoral Visit to Syria's Tartus

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi began a pastoral visit Sunday to the coastal Syrian city of Tartus, one of the bastions of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

In addition to the pastoral activities, the patriarch will take part there in an enthronement ceremony for the new archbishop of the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, LBCI television said.

This is not al-Rahi's first wartime visit to the neighboring country.

In June, the patriarch visited the capital Damascus to attend an inter-Christian summit at the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus.

The meeting was hosted by Greek Orthodox leader Youhanna X Yazigi.

Al-Rahi had first visited Syria as patriarch in 2013 to take part in Yazigi's enthronement, a trip that sparked controversy in Lebanon and was criticized by the Syrian regime's opponents.

It was the first visit to Syria by a Maronite patriarch since Lebanon's independence in 1943, after the one that was carried out by the late Patriarch Antoun Arida during the French mandate.

Y.R.