Syrian archbishop calls for alleviating of international sanctions

The Syriac-Catholic Archbishop of Homs has called upon the international community to lift sanctions on Syria, saying such a move would bring hope to the country.

Archbishop Jacques Mourad spoke of Syria as a spot of great uncertainty because the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government late last yr.

While fears that a hardline Islamist regime would replace it haven’t yet materialised, the extremist origins of the present government have left many voters, even some Muslim ones, uneasy.

Speaking at a press conference organised by Aid to the Church in Need, the archbishop spoke of the presence of Islamist militiamen on Syrian streets.

“For the Syrian people, it’s strange. It is foreign to them and to their traditions. They have never been confronted by such a rigid type of Islam. It is foreign to them, and there’s a certain social discomfort,” he said. 

The archbishop added that Syria has at all times been a various place where people of various faiths and backgrounds meet.

He continued, “Our Sunni neighbours tell us that they are usually not pleased with this recent regime, and so they say so to others, but amongst themselves, there’s fear, because for the Salafists, if the Sunnis are usually not on the identical page, they’re considered blasphemers, and the consequence for blasphemy is death.” 

So far the brand new government has made conciliatory gestures towards Christians and other minorities, nonetheless there have been concerns that its lack of control has led to excesses at an area level, either by rival militias or by groups theoretically controlled by the federal government.

In March a whole bunch of Alawites were killed in sectarian violence. Bashar al-Assad got here from the Alawite minority and it’s believed the violence can have been revenge attacks or possibly an try to prevent a counter-insurgency.

Calling on the international community to remove sanctions, Archbishop Mourad said, “The sanctions have had a terrible effect on the people of Syria. After the change of the regime, most individuals lost their jobs and now don’t have any technique of survival. Every day, people come to me searching for money to purchase bread. This is the extent we’ve got reached. Most people don’t have enough to pay for heating. It has turn out to be too expensive.”  

He said that lifting the sanctions would create work and opportunities, and improve people’s livelihoods. 

Despite the issue of the situation, Archbishop Mourad said he still had hope. In 2015, while still a monk, Mourad was kidnapped by ISIS and remained a prisoner for several months. He feels this experience has made him able to face anything. 

“For any individual like me, who has experienced interior freedom due to my captivity, there’s nothing now that imprisons me,” he said.

“Nothing puts me in a state of vulnerability. I contemplate my life and see that it’s within the hands of God, and I’m sure that He is guiding me.

“The one who has done this miracle for me and given me the miracle of returning me to freedom stays at my side. I see this for myself and for everybody, including for the presence of the Christians and the Church in Syria.”