Vulnerable People Project calls for permanently open humanitarian corridors and guaranteed Caritas access to endangered communities in southern Lebanon
NEWS PROVIDED BY
The Vulnerable People Project
Sept. 11, 2026
SOUTHERN LEBANON, Sept. 11, 2026 /Christian Newswire/ — The Vulnerable People Project (VPP) is calling for immediate restoration of reliable humanitarian access to Debel, Rmeish, and Ain Ebel after convoy restrictions left residents running low on food and forced the cancellation of a Caritas visit with His Beatitude Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church.
As VPP Lebanon’s September 11 field report details, access to the three Christian villages in Southern Lebanon has been severely restricted since Wednesday, September 9. A convoy scheduled for Thursday, September 10, was canceled. Shop owners who had traveled to Tyre with a UNIFIL convoy, after obtaining the required approvals from UNIFIL and the Mechanism, were unable to secure approval to return with essential supplies. They were forced to turn back toward Beirut on Friday, taking those supplies with them.
“Keeping the road open means keeping these Christian communities alive,” said Jason Jones, president and founder of the Vulnerable People Project. “The stakes are that high. It’s life and death, and the urgency will only grow as the cold and rains of winter approach. These families have chosen to remain in their homes through months of conflict. They must not be forced to abandon them because food cannot get through and humanitarian workers cannot reach them.”
VPP’s work in southern Lebanon has included a field assessment in Ain Ebel, Debel, and Rmeish, and support for a Marian children’s festival in Ain Ebel. That assessment informed VPP’s recent policy brief calling for a permanently open humanitarian corridor to those communities and to Alma, which faces similar risks.
The organization has urged guaranteed access for Caritas Lebanon to deliver food, medicine, fuel, and other essential assistance. Its recommendations include U.S. provision of five four-wheel-drive vehicles for Caritas and a dependable security arrangement to protect humanitarian passage when roads are damaged or difficult to navigate.
“A convoy that might be approved sometime next week does nothing for a family running out of food today,” Jones said. “Caritas needs dependable access, and the people bringing aid need protection. Our commitment to these communities must mean that they can count on food and medicine reaching them.”
VPP is urging U.S. officials and international partners to press for the immediate resumption of supply convoys and humanitarian visits, support Lebanon’s legitimate institutions in protecting civilian access, and ensure that humanitarian corridors remain open under any security arrangement. Protecting these routes is essential to defending vulnerable families from displacement and preserving the Christian presence in southern Lebanon.
Read today’s VPP Lebanon report and learn more about VPP’s work at VulnerablePeopleProject.com.
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ABOUT JASON JONES AND THE VULNERABLE PEOPLE PROJECT
Jason Jones is a filmmaker, author, and human rights advocate, and the president and founder of the Vulnerable People Project. VPP defends vulnerable people from violence by promoting human dignity and inspiring solidarity. Founded on the conviction that every human life has inviolable worth, the organization supports endangered communities regardless of faith or background.
SOURCE The Vulnerable People Project