US, European nations backed destructive violence in Syria, charges Catholic patriarch

January 18, 2013

Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignatius III Younan of Antioch has charged that outside nations brought Syria to the point of destruction by supporting rebels and provoking violence.

“The United States, the European Union and the Gulf states have a great responsibility in this war, which began as a peaceful Arab spring," the Patriarch said. He said that these countries supported Syrian rebels and encouraged their military efforts, although the rebels were not united among themselves and could not form an effective alternative to the Assad regime.

After months of fighting, the Catholic prelate said, Syria has been consumed by violence and hatred. The major conflict today, he said, “is a sectarian conflict between the Alawi minority and the Sunni majority.”

Patriarch Ignatius said that he strongly encourages Christians to remain in Syria, despite the violence, because they provide the best hope for future peace in Syria. As Islamic sects struggle for power, he said, the members of Syria’s Christian minority are “the only ones who can bear witness through their lives and values to the possibility of reconciliation, now virtually excluded by both regime and rebels."

 

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Further information:

• For Syriac Catholic patriarch of Antioch, US, EU and Gulf states stir hatred in Syria (AsiaNews)