Photos show Lebanon's Catholics marking Palm Sunday as the shadow of war weighs heavily

BEIRUT (AP) — As Christians packed churches across Lebanon this Palm Sunday to commemorate their belief in Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the renewed war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah weighed on parishioners.

Still, it was standing-room-only at a Maronite Catholic church near Dahiyeh, in Beirut's southern suburbs, a once-densely populated Shiite district where Hezbollah has long held sway — now emptied by sweeping Israeli evacuation orders and constant airstrikes. In the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, which has been almost cut off from the rest of the country by Israel bombing surrounding bridges, the peal of church bells and velvety choral music filled the air.

Parishioners fervently prayed for peace, although sectarian hostilities have never been far from the surface in since the 1975-1990 civil war that largely pitted Christians against Muslims. Now, churchgoers say all Lebanese are suffering from the intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

“There's no bombing right here, right now, but no one is safe from this, not the Christians, not anyone,” said Mahia Jamus, a 20-year-old university student in Beirut. “No one is spared the effects.”

In Tyre, where thousands of residents remain in their homes and in shelters despite Israeli evacuation orders, Christians took comfort in the preservation of their ancient traditions despite the suffering around them.

“Amid the wars, the tragedies and the destruction that is happening, we are in our land,” Roseth Katra, 41, said from the centuries-old stone church in Tyre. “Today is Palm Sunday, and we are celebrating.”

Isabel DeBre contributed to this report.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Boys hold candles during Palm Sunday Mass procession at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Catholic woman kneels beside her dog at the entrance of a church during a Palm Sunday Mass in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Catholic worshipers carry their children on their shoulders as they march in a procession during a Palm Sunday Mass in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A boy holds a candle during Palm Sunday Mass procession at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Worshipers light candles as they attend Palm Sunday Mass procession at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Christian woman takes pictures of her daughters outside a church, as they celebrate Palm Sunday in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Boys hold candles during Palm Sunday Mass procession at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

George Iskandar, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tyre for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church presides over a Palm Sunday Mass at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman walks in one of the Christian alleys on her way to attend Palm Sunday Mass at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Parishioners hold palm branches during the Palm Sunday celebration at the Our Lady of Hadat Church in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshippers shelter from the rain under umbrellas as they arrive at a church to attend a Palm Sunday Mass in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A priest blesses the palm branches held by the worshippers during a Palm Sunday Mass at the Our Lady of Hadat Church in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers attend Palm Sunday Mass procession at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Worshipers walk in a procession during a Palm Sunday Mass at the Our Lady of Hadat Church in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman holds her baby as people attend Palm Sunday Mass at Saint Thomas Cathedral, in the southern port city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Catholic worshipers carry their children on their shoulders as they march in a procession during a Palm Sunday Mass in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. The poster in the background reads in Arabic: "Honor, sacrifice and loyalty". (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

All that talent at Arizona and Michigan. All that momentum and good vibes at UConn. And somebody has to be play the part of the unheralded “little guy.” At the Final Four next weekend, that role belongs, improbably, to Illinois.

In a sign of the times, the Illinii -- a Big Ten team with more wins in the conference over the last seven seasons than any other program — will pass for something resembling Cinderella when college basketball’s biggest party kicks off in Indianapolis on Saturday.

The first challenge for coach Brad Underwood's team will be stopping a hard-charging UConn juggernaut that came from 19 points down and got a game-winner from the logo with 0.4 seconds left from an Indy native — Braylon Mullins — to make its third Final Four in the last four years.

The last two times the Huskies reached this point, they won the championship.

“It’s a UConn culture, a UConn heart,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We believe we’re supposed to win this time of year.”

All these teams do.

Arizona, led by Brayden Burries, and Michigan, with Yaxel Lendeborg, have up to nine NBA prospects between them.

The Wildcats opened as slight favorites — at plus-165 to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That was a shade ahead of the Wolverines, who are plus-180 after their 95-62 romp over Tennessee on Sunday.

But, in one of a few strange twists on the odds chart, the Wildcats are 1 1/2-point underdogs to Michigan in Saturday night’s second semifinal.

Illinois is a 2 1/2-point favorite over UConn and, in reality, it's the Huskies, at plus-550, who are the biggest long shot in Indy.

Even so, the fact that Illinois — the flagship university in the nation’s sixth most populous state and a school with an enrollment of nearly 60,000 — feels most like this year's out-of-nowhere underdog speaks more about the current state of college hoops than the Illini themselves.

They are a No. 3 seed — the highest number at the Final Four in two years. (UConn is a 2. Last season, all four No. 1s made it.)

This year's meeting of 1 vs. 1 — Michigan vs. Arizona — is a heavyweight matchup of power teams from power conferences meeting with everything at stake.

It’s a far cry from a mere three years ago, when mid-majors Florida Atlantic (coached by Dusty May, who now leads the Wolverines) and San Diego State crashed college basketball’s biggest party.

Since then, NIL and the transfer portal have redefined the contours of player movement, another spasm of realignment has made the big conferences bigger (Arizona, now in the Big 12, was in the Pac-12 in 2023), and the high-achieving underdogs that used to make March Madness what it is have gone into a slump.

Double-digit seeds won a total of five games in this tournament (not counting the play-in round). Two years ago, they won 11 and sent one team (N.C. State) to the Final Four.

Not surprisingly, Underwood — the coach who landed on the Illinois radar a decade ago by coaching double-digit seed Stephen F. Austin to a pair of upset wins in the tournament — views his program’s trip to the Final Four more as destiny than a once-in-a-lifetime story.

It is, however, the first trip for Illinois since 2005, when it lost to North Carolina in the title game.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” said Underwood, whose teams have won 96 Big Ten games since 2019-20, two more than Purdue. “I’ve never doubted us getting to a Final Four would happen. I have thought we have had other teams capable. But I also know how doggone hard it is to do it.”

The Big Ten knows all about this. Both Illinois and Michigan have a chance to deliver a title for the conference for the first time since Michigan State won it all in 2000.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov smiles on the stage after a win over Purdue in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)

Illinois' Zvonimir Ivisic cuts part of the net after an Elite Eight game against Iowa in the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg (23) celebrates after defeating Tennessee in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

UConn guard Braylon Mullins, right, celebrates his game winning basket with guard Malachi Smith (0) during the second half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Duke, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)