Despite decades since the end of Lebanon's civil war, sectarian tensions between the Christian neighborhood of Ain el-Remmaneh and the Muslim neighborhood of Chiyah remain entrenched, with local peacebuilding initiatives struggling against deeply rooted prejudices and political divisions. Peace activists underscore the urgent need to engage both the youth and their parents in overcoming these divisions, while addressing the gaps in education and collective memory to foster lasting reconciliation.

Key Points

• Despite the end of the Lebanese civil war, sectarian tensions between the Christian neighborhood of Ain el-Remmaneh and the Muslim neighborhood of Chiyah continue to resurface, highlighting the fragility of peaceful coexistence in Lebanon.
• Local initiatives aimed at promoting dialogue and civil peace, such as youth programs and peace committees, have made some progress but are often thwarted by recurring sectarian prejudices and political influences, particularly among younger generations.
• Activists work hard on addressing sectarian prejudices among both parents and youth, as parents often pass down their biases to children, and youth is more susceptible to being influenced by political parties and sectarian ideologies. 
• The lack of education on Lebanon's civil war in school curricula is seen as a barrier to healing and understanding, with many suggesting that objective teaching of the war’s history could help prevent the recurrence of conflict and promote lasting peace.
• The example of Tripoli, where women took the lead in fostering coexistence between two previously conflicting neighborhoods, demonstrates that “ nothing is impossible, even if results are slow to appear. It is important to keep working.”

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Two adjoining neighborhoods, in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon: Ain el-Remmaneh, predominantly Christian, and Chiyah, predominantly Muslim. 

It was in the Christian neighborhood of Ain el-Remmaneh that the civil war broke out on April 13, 1975. The conflict left more than 150,000 dead, 17,000 missing, and hundreds of thousands exiled or displaced.

Despite the end of hostilities in 1990, thirty-four years ago, Ain el-Remmaneh and Chiyah have experienced several sectarian security incidents in recent years. 

The most violent one occurred on October 14, 2021, in Tayouneh, a former demarcation line between the two neighborhoods. That day, scenes reminiscent of urban guerrilla warfare unfolded between Shiite Hezbollah and Amal militants and presumed fighters from the Christian Lebanese Forces party. The Lebanese Forces have consistently denied any involvement in these clashes. There is no indication that the neighborhood's residents participated in the fighting.

It is within this complex context that numerous local dialogue and peace-promotion initiatives have been established in the area since the end of the civil war. Local authorities have attempted several on-the-ground experiments, with varying degrees of success. 

Layla*, a civil society activist, has been part of many initiatives with the youth of both neighborhoods. 

“We managed to create a civil peace committee that worked within the Chiyah municipality. This committee worked a lot with all groups and ages, including children, women, youth, and the elderly, on topics aimed at eliminating sectarian and partisan prejudices. But the same problems resurfaced every time,” says Layla*, during a dialogue session organized by the What If on August 7, 2024 between inhabitants of Chiyah and Tayyouneh.

Sectarian and community withdrawal is observed after each incident in the area, with slogans and references to the religious or political affiliations of each neighborhood reappearing.

“To be honest, I currently lack confidence because just one click of a button is enough for discussions and efforts to go back to square one,” regrets Layla*, acknowledging that the municipality’s efforts “have not yielded significant results,” but calling nonetheless not to give up.

"Continue to engage with the youth"

Cosette Nakhle, a social worker and head of local development for the Chiyah municipality, has also encountered many sectarian and political obstacles, particularly in the wake of the heavy polarization caused by the war in southern Lebanon that has raged since October 8, 2023, between Hezbollah and Israel.

“At first, we carried out many impactful activities, and they were very good,” recounts Nakhle, who managed to organize a march for students from the area along the old demarcation line.

“We recently formed a new committee, and some young people joined us. However, during recent events in the south, one of our committee members joined Hezbollah and began openly supporting them on Facebook,” confides Nakhle. “This surprised and disappointed us, as we thought he could have supported us in a different way rather than taking up arms. This shows the different perspectives within our community and the challenges we face in promoting civil peace,” she adds.

The issue of Hezbollah's weapons remains a difficult topic to address in Lebanon in general, and particularly in regions where Christians and Muslims live side by side. And the issue, as well as tensions between communities, have been aggravated by the spread of the war beyond the South of Lebanon and the displacement of over 1,4 million people, almost overnight in October 2024. 

To reinvigorate civil peace promotion, Layla* believes that it is necessary to continue to engage with the youth, who are more likely than their parents to be influenced by the political parties. “The older people remain neighbors and interact as such. There is nothing to indicate war, savagery, or sectarianism. It’s the youth who are affected by this problem. They inherit it, not necessarily from their parents, because sometimes the parents are not affiliated with any party, but they end up joining parties and are influenced by any incident. They might resort to arms, words, or internal hatred,” analyzes Layla*.

Helping parents overcome prejudices

Laudy Wehbe, director of a center affiliated with the Ministry of Social Affairs in Ain el-Remmaneh, shares experiences similar to those reported by Layla* and Cosette Nakhle. Active on the ground for 27 years, Laudy Wehbe worked for three years with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on a project supporting civil peace with several municipalities, but she also faced sectarian prejudices and tensions that reemerge with every incident.

“In Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh, we have faced ongoing tensions, particularly due to the historical context of this area, which was the origin of the war,” she explains. Despite the completion of the UNDP project and the creation of a new “civil peace support committee” made up of representatives from both communities and young people aged 17 to 25, the activities were not sustainable.

“We organized various activities, including workshops and trips, aimed at bridging the gaps between communities. But it is important to recognize that the underlying problems persist. These tensions are deeply rooted and affect how communities interact, reflecting broader social and political challenges that continue to influence daily life,” analyzes Wehbe.

The challenge is even greater for young people, she says, if their parents took up arms during the war, on either side. “These families are likely to hold prejudices and pass these views on to their children. It is difficult to change deeply ingrained beliefs because parents instill these ideas in their children. It’s not easy to change such fundamental ideas, especially when the influence of parents is so strong,” she acknowledges.

The solution, according to her, is to continue working with the youth, “who can influence each other,” but also to address the parents. “Parents must be the first to follow these trainings. We are not asking them to give up their principles, but they must let go of the prejudices they retained after the war,” explains this activist. “Encourage your children to live in peace and start a new phase of their life. A family that raises its children with these values can have a positive influence on their academic, community, and even professional life,” analyzes Laudy Wehbe.

She also calls for ensuring the “credibility” of those targeted by any future civil peace promotion activities in Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh, to avoid another halt in activities. “We must work on both regions equally and not randomly choose people. We will need to find new individuals to target in our upcoming programs,” she emphasizes.

“We changed the bus”

For Fouad Dirani, a university professor and civil peace activist, the problem lies in the “way the civil war ended.” “The conflict ended on unstable ground, with the promotion of the idea that there was ‘no winner, no loser,’ which contributed to entrenching the tensions that had already emerged during the war,” he explains.

“Perhaps if the history of the Lebanese civil war were written objectively and distributed to students in schools, today we would be able to avoid many things,” suggests Nakhle. 

In Lebanon, school textbooks do not address the subject of the civil war or the country's contemporary history. They stop in 1943, when the Lebanese republic was officially proclaimed independent. This lack of shared history creates many problems regarding collective memory in the face of ongoing conflicts.

Recently, Dirani organized, with a group of activists, a commemorative event for the civil war entitled “We changed the bus,” in reference to the infamous incident of the bus transporting Palestinians to Ain el-Remmaneh on April 13, 1975, which was attacked by Christian militiamen upon entering Ain el-Remmaneh, sparking the conflict.

Fouad Dirani even organized a march in the area in 2021 after the bloody events in Tayouneh. Unfortunately, this event failed to mobilize the residents of the affected neighborhoods. In Laudy’s experience, many youth from the region have moved to other areas, making it hard to engage them in peace-building activities. 

“There was no significant local presence at the time,” says Dirani. “In my opinion, what is missing is the involvement of people capable of giving these movements a local identity, making sure they truly emerge from the community and resonate with it,” explains the activist. “This area is prone to tensions, so it is crucial that we continue to engage with it rather than abandon it,” he says.

Lessons from Tripoli: Women Lead the Way

Sarwat Kari has been actively involved in peacebuilding projects in Tripoli, in Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, two neighborhoods historically torn apart by sectarian violence. 

She took part in a variety of activities, including dialogue workshops, cooking classes, and joint excursions.  

“It allowed people to deeply understand each other’s pain and experiences,” she recalls. “A mother who lost her child could connect with another mother who experienced the same loss. They shared their stories and supported each other.”

Kari described how, over time, these shared activities began to transform not only the women but also their families. “ My 17-year-old son now goes to a sports club in Jabal Mohsen without fear, which was not the case before. He used to have a different perspective, but our shared experiences have changed that,” she explains.

This shows, per Cosette Nakhle words, that  “Nothing is impossible, even if results are slow to appear. It is important to keep working.”

“Talking about the conflict between Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh used to be perceived as betrayal,’ says Dirani. “Today, there are people working on this issue, and there is hope. We must keep moving forward and seeking solutions.”

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*The name has been changed to protect the anonymity of the individual.

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One or two fun fact about Chiyah and Ain el-Remmaneh: 

• Chiyah is a municipality in itself. Whereas Ain El Remmaneh is a neighborhood, managed by the municipality of Furn El Chebbak. 

• Ain el Remmaneh means Spring of the Pomegranate tree. 

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