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Lebanon’s new Maronite patriarch invited to Syria

BEIRUT — Syria’s ambassador to Beirut on Wednesday invited new Maronite patriarch Beshara Rai to visit Damascus, after years of tense ties with the Lebanese church.

“I am here to convey President Bashar al-Assad’s congratulations and warm wishes to his excellency and invite him to Damascus, where he is always welcome,” Ambassador Ali Abdel Karim Ali told reporters at the church’s headquarters in Bkerke, northeast of Beirut.

“Damascus wants the best for Lebanon, as his eminence knows, and is fully supportive of the patriarch as he carries out his vocation, and of the strengthening of brotherly ties.”

Bishop Beshara Rai, 71, on Tuesday was elected the 77^th patriarch of Lebanon’s Maronites, the country’s largest Christian community which makes up about one third of the four-million population.

Rai succeeds Nasrallah Sfeir, who stepped down after 25 years at the helm of the Maronite church, founded in the fifth century by Maron, a Syriac monk fleeing persecution who sought refuge in north Lebanon.

Sfeir in 2000 had openly declared opposition to Syria’s three decades of domination over Lebanon that ended five years later when Damascus withdrew its troops following former premier Rafiq Hariri’s assassination.

After several years of strained relations, Lebanon and Syria agreed to establish diplomatic ties in October 2008 for the first time since their independence 60 years ago.

Ali took up the post of Damascus’ first ambassador to Beirut in 2009.