Melkite Patriarch opposes international intervention in Syria

March 18, 2015

Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham has argued against international intervention to protect Christians from the Islamic State.

“We are a sovereign country with a legitimate government which is responsible for protecting its citizens,” said that Syrian prelate. He told the Fides news agency that anyone truly interested in stopping the bloodshed in Syria should concentrate on stopping the flow of arms and weapons to the contending powers in the Syrian civil war.

Patriarch Gregory said that “all men of good will” should agree that prayer, relief programs to help refugees, and efforts to curb the supply of weapons are the best ways to secure peace.

The Melkite leader said that a decision to close the borders of Lebanon, halting a flood of people fleeing the conflict in Syria, “has aggravated the problem of Christian refugees.” But he told the AsiaNews service that the number of displaced people within Syria is “an even greater problem.”

 

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Further information:

• Patriarch Gregoire III: "one is inconsiderate to invoke external military interventions to defend Christians in the Middle East" (Fides)
• Gregory III Laham: as Lebanon closes borders, the plight of Syrian Christians gets worse (AsiaNews)