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Regime'S Shabihah Abduct Christian Pastor In Qatana Near Damascus; U

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  • Regime'S Shabihah Abduct Christian Pastor In Qatana Near Damascus; U

    REGIME'S SHABIHAH ABDUCT CHRISTIAN PASTOR IN QATANA NEAR DAMASCUS; UNION OF FREE SYRIANS SAYS WE ARE PART OF THE SYRIAN REVOLUTION

    Al-Sharq al-Awsat [The Middle East]
    Oct 24 2012
    London, UK

    The Face book page of the "Al-Juljulah Coordination Committee of the
    Syrian Revolution" managed by Christian activists have accused the
    Syrian regime's shabihah of abducting Fadi Jamil Haddad, the pastor
    of the Orthodox Church in the area of Qatana near Damascus. The Face
    book page said: "The pastor was abducted after a Christian physician
    had been abducted with the intention of fomenting discord between
    Christians and Muslims".

    The Face book page added: "The residents of Qatana gathered in the Mar
    Elias Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the town of Qatana to condemn
    the heinous criminal abduction perpetrated by the regime's shabihah and
    the kidnapping of Fadi Jamil Haddad, the pastor of the Greek Orthodox
    Church in Qatana, and his companions as they were on their way to pay
    a ransom for the release of Dr Shadi Khuri who had been abducted by
    Bashar's gangs". Meanwhile, the Facebook page of Christian clerics
    posted a video clip showing the effects of the regime's artillery
    shelling on the windows of the Church of St Mar Gewargis in the
    village of Al-Ghasaniyah in the area of Jisr al-Shughur.

    The day before yesterday [22 October], the Union of Free Christians
    released a statement affirming that the Christians of Syria,
    particularly in Aleppo, cling to the Syrian people's social fabric that
    is resisting against the killing machine in Syria. The statement said:
    "The Syrian people's revolt has been raging for about one year and
    a half against the most vicious and murderous dictatorships. This
    regime thought that the city of Aleppo was opposed to the revolution
    until it shook its foundations. The regime met Aleppo's resistance
    by destroying everything in it. It had claimed that Aleppo was loyal
    to it. Later, the people of Aleppo were suddenly considered "gangs"
    that should be killed and displaced and their homes destroyed as they
    are pursued even in their places of displacement".

    The Union of Free Christians in Aleppo added: "Since the eruption of
    the revolution, the regime has been labelling Aleppo as a Salafi and
    terrorist town in its attempts to fabricate fears of the revolution
    among some components of the Syrian people. It tried to manipulate
    the natural differences among these components, particularly the
    Christians, in an attempt to isolate them from the revolution.

    However, as the revolution takes major strides in its march to
    overthrow the regime, broad sectors of Christians stand alongside
    their people's revolt in various forms. Whenever the regime felt their
    resistance was broadening, it would fabricate fresh illusions giving
    the impression that it is still powerful. Its last such attempt was
    demonstrated when it displayed the bodies which it said belonged
    to the Free Syrian Army [FSA] -the regime is not above bringing
    in hundreds of bodies of those that were liquidated every day in
    its dungeons or the bodies of martyrs who fall as a result of the
    shelling and destruction -in several Christian neighbourhoods where its
    security centres are located. Most important of these locations is the
    political security branch in the neighbourhood of Al-Sulaymaniyah that
    has turned into a military garrison that reminds us of the barracks
    of the occupation. The regime managed to recruit a small number from
    the sons of these Christian neighbourhoods in a shameful celebration
    that has nothing to do with the principles of Christianity, since
    Christianity stands before death in reverence and not with dancing,
    ululations, and pleasure".

    The statement that coincided with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
    Lavrov's remark that "Al-Asad's regime is the protector of minorities
    in the region," went on to say: "Over the past century to date,
    the town of Aleppo has been the scene of brotherhood among its sons
    that is unprecedented in the history of co-existence as it resisted
    against the occupation and tyranny as well as in co-existence in the
    scientific, cultural, and religious centres and in the markets and
    the neighbourhoods. The regime and its security organs managed to
    recruit a very small number of Christians in the ranks of what the
    world has come to know as the shabihah. The regime exploited those
    with criminal records or those suffering from hard living conditions
    as well as ignorance. A few members of several Armenian sects were
    also involved for political considerations".

    The statement went on to say: "As free Christians, we proclaim that
    the stands of these few on the side of the regime do not express the
    stands of the Christians in Aleppo who are fed up with this regime
    under whose rule Syria suffered from the biggest waves of migration.

    The presence of Christians has dropped to its lowest levels as their
    economic, political, cultural, and social role declines. This is
    especially true of the Armenians whose history in Syria goes back
    to more than 100 years when Syria provided them with refuge and the
    highest forms of hospitality as they fled from persecution. Syria
    became the homeland of the Armenians at a time when no one had heard
    of the Al-Asad family".

    The statement of the Union of Free Christians concluded: "As free
    Christians, we consider ourselves part of the Syrian revolution and
    participants in all its activities. We proclaim our condemnation
    of all the manifestations of provocation fabricated by the security
    organs of the regime and its executioners from the various sects.

    Christianity is innocent of such manifestations".

    [Translated from Arabic]


    From: Baghdasarian
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