Ex-Lebanon Maronite patriarch dies

BEIRUT

Lebanon's former Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir died on Sunday at the age of 98, the church said.

In a statement, the Maronite church said Sfeir died about 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) "after days of intensive medical care".

A prominent power broker in Lebanese politics, Sfeir was named the leader of the Maronite church in 1986. He resigned his post in 2011 due to his declining health.

Born in 1920 in Rayfoun, a village in Kesrouane in Mount Lebanon province, Sfeir was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

The former patriarch was a prominent power broker during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. He supported the Taif agreement, which ended the country's destructive civil war.

Sfeir was a vocal supporter of the withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon, which completed in 2005.