@AzatAlsalim on X
CV NEWS FEED // In a statement emailed to CatholicVote, the international organization Aid to the Church in Need made an urgent appeal to Catholics around the world and the U.S. government to prevent the imminent massacre of Christians and other religious minorities after a Jihadist militia took sudden control of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
“Following a heartfelt plea from a missionary and ACN’s project partner in Aleppo, the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) calls on all people of faith to unite in prayer for the safety and peace of this war-torn region,” the statement read.
According to the Associated Press, thousands of “Syrian insurgents” led by radical Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took over most of Aleppo on Saturday, “establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province.”
Aleppo is the Syrian city with the largest number of Catholics of various Eastern rites. It is also home to many Christians of several Christian denominations in the Orthodox tradition.
In a voice message shared with ACN, Fr. Hugo Alaniz IVE, an Argentine missionary, described the dire situation currently unfolding around Aleppo, where extremist groups have launched a surprise offensive. Several villages have been seized, and vital routes, including the road between Aleppo and Damascus, have been cut off.
“The situation is very tense; they are less than 10 kilometres away,” he reported. “There are intense clashes with many dead and injured. Hospitals are overwhelmed, and fear is widespread.”
According to the ACN statement, “the people of Syria, who have endured more than 10 years of devastating war, are now facing renewed insecurity. The missionary highlighted the immense fear gripping the local population as violence edges closer to their communities, while explosions can be heard in the background.”
According to ACN sources, “parts of northwest and southwest Aleppo are being particularly affected by recent attacks, as Islamist groups appear to be trying to regain control of the areas which they lost to regular Syrian forces four years ago.”
In response to this urgent call, ACN invited all benefactors and people of goodwill to join in prayer for Aleppo and its surrounding communities.
“Let us pray for peace, the protection of the vulnerable, and a swift end to the violence that has brought so much suffering to a nation already ravaged by over a decade of conflict,” said Regina Lynch, executive president of ACN International.
Nadine Maenza, the president of the International Religious Freedom Secretariat, warned on Saturday that Western media are failing to report the fact that the “‘rebels’ taking the city are not ‘Freedom Fighters,’ but Turkish-backed Islamists with the same ideology as ISIS.”
The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom’s fact sheet states that Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) “remains a potent source of a Salafi-jihadism that restricts the religious freedom of non-conforming Sunni Muslims and threatens the property, safety, and existence of religious minority groups such as Alawites, Christians, and Druze.”
