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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Middle Eastern Patriarch calls for eradication of ISIS | ||
| 2014-09-18 | ||
| Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the Middle East have denounced attacks on Christians and called upon the international community to work toward eradicating terrorist groups. The patriarchs met on Wednesday at the Maronite Catholic patriarchate at Bkerke, north of Beirut, for a special summit to address the crisis in the region. They were later joined by the United Nationsspecial coordinator in Lebanon and the ambassadors of the five permanent member-countries of the UN Security Council. "The very existence of Christians is at stake in several Arab countries" notably in Iraq, Syria and Egypt "where they have been exposed to heinous crimes, forcing them to flee," the patriarchs said in a statement after the summit and meeting with diplomats. They lamented the indifference of both Islamic authorities and the international community over attacks against Christians, who have been in the region for 2,000 years.
“We call for issuing a fatwa that forbids attacks against others,” they said. “The international community cannot keep silent about the existence of the so-called ISIS,” the patriarchs said, referring to the Islamic State. “They should put an end to all extremist terrorist groups and criminalise aggression against Christians and their properties.” The prelates' meeting was a follow-up to their first summit earlier this month It also follows a trip by several of them to Irbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, to give moral and spiritual support to the flood of Iraqi minorities driven from the Ninevah Plain by the Islamic State militants. The prelates stressed the need for cutting off the sources of terrorism and called on the world's major powers to deprive extremist groups of resources by compelling countries financing them to stop their support. Solutions to the Islamic State crisis must involve “dealing with the reasons that produced the miseries in the Middle East,” and harmony must be restored between the components of these countries, they said.
“We must stop using extremists, terrorists and mercenaries and (stop) supporting, financing and arming them,” they said. They also stressed “the necessity of working to liberate the towns of Ninevah and facilitate the return of the displaced to their homes, in addition to ensuring the security of these towns with local and international guarantees to prevent displacement.” The patriarchs denounced the “bleeding” that continues in Syria and said the conflict there must be solved by “dialogue and through a political solution.” They criticized the international community for not resolving the April 2013 kidnapping of two Orthodox bishops in Syria. The prelates applauded the region's Christians, who “are committed to the values of the Gospel and the teachings of Christ” exemplified in their relationships with others, “including their Muslim brothers, who live with them in the same nations.” As for the threat of the Islamic State in Lebanon, particularly in light of the Islamic militants' incursion into the country near its border with Syria early August, the prelates underscored “the importance of the Lebanese political system that separates between the religion and the state, and which acknowledges religious freedoms.” “We reject religious extremism in Lebanon. Lebanon is a country for all and not a country where there are different religious emirates,” they said. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 eradication of ISIS or acknowledges religious freedoms Can't have both. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2014-09-18 22:36 |