Syria, two Orthodox bishops kidnapped

“Armed men took them”

In these hours, the Christian community, especially the Orthodox community, in the Aleppo region in northern Syria, are in awe and terror after the news, confirmed also by the official media, of the kidnapping by unspecified men armed with spread has spread. two bishops of the Syrian metropolis. In the context of the war in Syria, the Christians of the north of the country have for months fled from their homes to other regions or abroad.

Monsignors Yohanna Ibrahim and Bulos Yazigi, respectively Syrian-Orthodox bishop of Aleppo and Greek Orthodox of the same city, were together in a car coming from the Turkish border, about thirty kilometers away. They were headed to Aleppo, but at the height of Kfar Dael, a town on the eastern outskirts of the city center, they were stopped by “armed men” who ordered them and the driver, a deacon, to get out of the car. After killing the driver on the spot – the local sources continue – the armed men have disappeared taking with them the two bishops in an unknown place.

The official media of Damascus immediately gave wide coverage to the news, pointing the finger at “the terrorists” and stating that Ibrahim and Yazigi returned from a “humanitarian” activity. At the moment there are no claims of kidnapping. The zone that separates Aleppo from the Turkish border is only theoretically controlled by anti-regime rebels, but in reality it is increasingly no man’s land, infested with criminal gangs, marauders, foreign jihadist fundamentalists who do not have much to do with the political cause of the local insurgents.

The kidnapping of the two bishops comes after the distribution of news, still partial and unverifiable on the ground in an independent manner, of the killing in south-west of Damascus of over 500 people, mostly civilians, including women and children, from part of militiamen loyal to President Bashar al Assad. In this regard, the United States said it was “shocked and upset”.

At the beginning of February, two priests had been kidnapped by other armed men south of Aleppo. We have no more news of Father Michel Kayyal, an Armenian Catholic, and Father Maher Mahfuz, a Greek Orthodox, since the bus they were on board in Damascus had been blocked by militiamen.

(April 22nd 2013)