Maronite Patriarch in Qatar raises fate of the two kidnapped Orthodox bishops
Beirut ( AsiaNews
/ Agencies) - Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai is in Qatar since yesterday, on an
official visit at the invitation of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al- Thani. He
will raise the question of the two Orthodox bishops kidnapped in Syria last
April with the Qatari authorities and ask for their cooperation. Qatar
is one of the military sponsors of the rebel troops in opposition to Syrian
President Bashar Assad.
"I
hope - said the Patriarch - that the Qatari authorities will use all their
influence to reveal what happened to the two bishops, together with that of
three other priests who have been kidnapped and whose fate s unknown."
The head
of Lebanese security , Gen. Abbas
Ibrahim has also traveled to Syria to find a way to free the two bishops.
The two bishops of Aleppo ,
Syrian Orthodox Msgr. Youhanna
Ibrahim, and Greek - orthodox Bishops Boulos Yazigi, were
kidnapped on April 22 near Kafr Dael , a northern city in rebel hands . Since
then there has been complete silence about their whereabouts, and often
conflicting reports emerge on their release or their death.
The
same goes for the Italian Jesuit Paolo dall'Oglio, who disappeared towards the
end of last July , while attempting to reconcile secular and Islamist rebel factions.
Some
rumors say that he is dead, and others, among rebels, that he is a "guest
" of the " Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant " , a group of
radical Islamists linked to al Qaeda.
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