Amid the worst violence since the Syrian conflict began more than five
years ago, a local Syrian Catholic archbishop has joined in raising
attention to the situation facing Christians in the city of Aleppo.
"More than half the city’s population left over the last four or five
years," Melkite Catholic archbishop of Aleppo Jean-Clement Jeanbart said
on a recent visit to Canada, urging the West to put more effort into
finding a solution to the conflict - instead of taking in refugees.
"It (Canada) has to help them stay where they are … to find peace. And
to get it [the war] over with these rebels, these terrorists
and drive both sides to talk. To find a political solution" added
Jeanbart, who has served in Syria’s previously largest city since 1995.
Speaking of an attack on a Christian area in February 2016 he said
"It was awful: a bomb that the rebels deliberately launched on a
Christian neighbourhood … has blown everything apart, destroyed
countless houses" including that of a 13-year-old boy Fouad Banna, who
died instantly.
You cannot imagine the dangers that we face every day
Fouad’s mother and father were not able to attend their son’s funeral,
led by the Archbishop himself, as they were in intensive care.
"It's a glimpse of the hardships happening back home" said Jeanbart.
Yet the archbishop believes it ‘hurts’ more for the West to keep taking in refugees.
When asked about Canada welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees in the past
few months, he said: "We’re not happy when we see the Canadian
government moving refugees and facilitating their integration. It hurts
us. A lot," he said.
He’d rather Syrians, especially Christians, stay in their ancient lands.
"They [the West] pity the Syrians and the Christians. But do they
really know about their problems? No, I don’t think so."The churches
have called for a day of prayer
Last week dozens of people were killed in a surge of violent exchanges
between government forces and rebels. The UN humanitarian chief told an
emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that hundreds of civilians
have been killed or injured in indiscriminate attacks over the past ten
days in what he called ‘the carnage of Aleppo".
April 26th was "a bloody day in Aleppo" said a Christian man in the
city. "Many shells covered one side of the city. Tens of injuries, 17
were killed. Suleymaniye was hit as well. It is a Christian area."
Casualties have risen on all sides. Still neighbourhoods where
Christians are known to live – almost exclusively away from the Islamist
rebel-controlled areas – have been frequently targeted over the past
few years.
After a lull, the situation took a more dramatic turn in the past several days.
A maternity hospital in a government-controlled area was hit by rebel
fire, killing at least three people, reports said Tuesday May 3rd.
This came days after another hospital was hit in rebel-held east of Aleppo in a deadly government airstrike.
Describing the significance of the hospital hit on May 3rd, a resident
said: "It is where my daughter was born and a place where new babies
come to this world and new life begins.
"Today it is full of death and destruction. For me and my wife, it is
very symbolic," adding that the city's renowned maternity hospital was
also considered one of the best for fertility treatment in the Middle
East.
"Some of the busiest streets in Suleymaniye are empty after what has
happened. All the shops are closed. I heard from my friend that he saw
just 3 or 4 people on a street that normally is crowded. I urged him to
stay inside" said another local.
"More like Good Friday"
Jeanbart's words echo those of his counterpart from the Chaldean church in Aleppo,
Bishop Antoine Audo, who reported recently that in only five years of
conflict and persecution, the Christian population in Syria has been
reduced by two-thirds, from 1.5 million to only 500,000 today.
Christian presence in the city is not what it once wasBishop Audo said
that the situation in Aleppo is even worse than in the rest of Syria,
with only a quarter of the Christian population remaining since the
beginning of Syria's civil war in 2011.
Audo also noted that Aleppo's three cathedrals have been almost completely destroyed.
"You cannot imagine the dangers that we face every day," he said.
Elsewhere, the Islamic State has taken over large parts, putting tens of thousands of people to flight in both Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile, the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) quoted
an Aleppo Franciscan priest saying, "Never, since the beginning of this
terrible war, were things as bad as they are now. I have no words to
describe all the suffering I see on a daily basis."
Seeing bombs fall on churches, mosques, schools and hospitals, Fr
Ibrahim Alsabagh said "So many people were killed or severely injured."
Alsabagh, who has been working in Aleppo for two years, added that
Easter (celebrated by Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics in Syria
last Sunday, 1st May) had been markedly sad.
"It was more like Good Friday than Easter Sunday. People were either
burying their dead or else they stayed at home out of fear."
Would you like to know how Mary felt when she was holding her son's dead body?
"Would you like to know how Mary felt when she was holding her son's
dead body? You can ask a mother from Aleppo" said one of them "She has
experienced the feeling of carrying her son’s dead body. Would you like
to know how Jesus was feeling when he was carrying his cross and
awaiting the time of his death? You can ask our children. They are
carrying their crosses and are awaiting their death".
Yet "We are refusing to see death any more in Syria – Aleppo especially
– and we are declaring the resurrection of Christ on our beloved
country!" implores the same woman, who’d rather keep her name private.
The Syrian churches have joined forces declaring Sunday 8th May a day
of prayer and fasting and have appealed to the international Church to
join them.
Courtesy: World Watch Monitor
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