Rai, Yazigi urge end to interference in Syria<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Daily Star<\/p>\n\n\n\n
JUNE 13, 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patriarch Beshara Rai and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Levant and Antioch John X Yazigi appealed Thursday to Lebanese, regional and international parties to end their involvement in the 2-year-old civil war in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two patriarchs also called on the kidnappers of two Orthodox bishops in Syria to release them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi were kidnapped at the end of April, reportedly near the rebel-held town of Kafr Dael, near Aleppo in northern Syria. Sources close to the Greek Orthodox Church in Syria and the Syrian authorities have claimed the kidnappers were “Chechen jihadists”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe call on the kidnappers and the concerned countries to release Bishops Paul Yazigi and Yohanna Ibrahim, the two priests Ishak Mahfoud and Michel Kayyal who were kidnapped before them and all kidnapped people on Syrian territories,\u201d Rai and Yazigi said in a joint statement issued after their meeting in Bkirki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expressing their regret and sorrow over the ongoing violence in Syria, the two patriarchs said: \u201cWe call on all Lebanese, regional and international parties to end their involvement in the Syrian conflict and inflaming it. We appeal to everyone to work for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting, Director of ODFS, Ribal Al-Assad said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI welcome the statement by Patriarch Beshara Rai and join him in asking for Bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi to be released. Kidnappings by Islamist rebels are unfortunately on the rise in Syria and the fact that extremists are now targeting religious leaders is especially concerning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also reiterate Patriarch Bashara Rai\u2019s call for a peace; the international community must work towards bringing sides together to achieve a political solution through peaceful dialogue not inflame tensions through a further militarisation of the conflict.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rai, Yazigi urge end to interference in Syria The Daily Star JUNE 13, 2013 Patriarch Beshara Rai and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Levant and Antioch John X Yazigi appealed Thursday to Lebanese, regional and international parties to end their involvement in the 2-year-old civil war in Syria. The two patriarchs also called on the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6726,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6725\/revisions\/6726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}