{"id":576,"date":"2012-07-19T06:06:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T06:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/syrian-archbishop-laments-continued-violence\/"},"modified":"2012-07-19T06:06:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T06:06:00","slug":"syrian-archbishop-laments-continued-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/syrian-archbishop-laments-continued-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian archbishop laments continued violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Damascus, Syria, Jul 19, 2012 \/ 12:06 am (CNA<\/a>).- Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus spoke out against the violent conflict between government and rebel forces in Syria, drawing particular attention to the plight of refugees.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn this period of mindless violence, our voices are drowned by the long ordeal of the country and by a complexity that is blocking any diplomatic solution.<\/p>\n

\tThe country is sinking in sorrow and gratuitous violence and there is still no end in sight, we have been in a protracted conflict for more than sixteen months,\u201d he told Fides news agency.<\/p>\n

\tThe archbishop\u2019s comments came before a July 18 bomb attack at a high-level crisis meeting that killed three government leaders, including President Bashar Assad\u2019s brother-in-law and the defense minister.<\/p>\n

\tDefense Minister Dawoud Rajha was the most senior Christian government official in Syria. Syria\u2019s Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population, tend to support the government.<\/p>\n

\tRebels tend to draw support from the majority Sunni Muslim population.<\/p>\n

\tThe rebels claimed responsibility for the bombing. Riad al-Assad, a commander of the various rebel forces, said he hoped that the president would be the next to die, the Associated Press reports.<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Nassar focused on the non-combatant victims of the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOn the streets of Damascus you see people fleeing, there are refugees who, desperate, cross the city in search of a refuge,\u201d he said. \u201cThe lack of charity structures, the embargo and the limited resources available do not help to face this emergency and contribute to fuelling anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe condemned the \u201cterrible phenomenon\u201d of kidnapping people for ransom, saying unemployment and insecurity have encouraged the practice.<\/p>\n

\tVictims are often abducted from school and work, he said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOne should see the panic and anxiety of families struggling to collect from relatives, neighbors, friends and parishes a sum of money sufficient to save a kidnapped son, brother or father,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis horrible practice paralyzes social life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe noted a weakening of faith, with children no longer attending catechism classes and adults no longer taking part in pastoral activities.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cMany Christian families, terrified, think only about how to leave the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe said that people \u201csuffer, hope, escape, pray\u201d and remember the Martyrs of Damascus, three brothers martyred in a Turkish persecution in 1860. They were commemorated on July 10.<\/p>\n

\tThe United Nations Security Council was scheduled to vote on a new Syria resolution on Wednesday but delayed it until Thursday to try to secure an agreement on measures to end the violence, the Associated Press says.<\/p>\n

\tRussia, a close ally of Syria,\u00a0 is strongly opposed to sanctions and any mention of the use of force to end the conflict.<\/p>\n

\tRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of inciting Syria\u2019s opposition, which is widely perceived to be too disorganized to take over.<\/p>\n

\tThe Obama administration is pushing for a change of government in the country and has put new financial sanctions on the government.<\/p>\n

\tThe Syrian government\u2019s supporters include Iran and Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups. Some factions of the Syrian rebels include al-Qaida-linked militant Islamic groups who have conducted what Aid to the Church in Need called \u201congoing ethnic cleansing\u201d of Christians in cities like Homs.<\/p>\n

\tOn July 14 Franciscan Fr. Romualdo Fernandez, Director of the Ecumenical Centre of Tabbaleh, told Fides that if foreign powers continue to arm and finance the warring parties \u201cthe war will continue and victims will increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe armed revolt against President Assad began in March 2011. It has claimed over 10,000 lives.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Damascus, Syria, Jul 19, 2012 \/ 12:06 am (CNA).- Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus spoke out against the violent conflict between government and rebel forces in Syria, drawing particular attention to the plight of refugees.<\/p>\n

\t“In this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-africa","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSyrian archbishop laments continued violence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Damascus, Syria, Jul 19, 2012 \/ 12:06 am (CNA).- Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus spoke out against the violent conflict between government and rebel forces in Syria, drawing particular attention to the plight of refugees. “In this...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/syrian-archbishop-laments-continued-violence\/\" \/>\n<meta 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