Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA-Caretaker Minister of Religious Endowments (Awkaf) Mohammad Abdul-Sattar al-Sayyed said that the displacement of the locals of the Iraqi city of Mosul by extremist groups from the Islamic State is a heinous crime against Iraq’s culture and civilization.
During his visit, along with a delegation of Muslim clergymen, to Greek Orthodox Patriarch for Antioch and All the East John X Yazigi, the minister saw that attempts to drive Christians away from their city is a conspiracy against Arab Muslims and Christians alike, and a distortion of the region’s identity.
“Christians are the inhabitants of this land…they built its civilization hand in hand with the Muslims, and they will remain entrenched in this region,” he said, hailing the stances of Patriarch Yazigi who has always opposed attempts to empty the East of Christians.
Syria will remain a pioneer in materializing the concept of religious tolerance that rejects extremism and violence, al-Sayyed said, affirming that Syria’s door will remain open for those at the receiving end of takfiri terrorism in Mosul and elsewhere.
Patriarch Yazigi, for his part, said the Syrians will remain one family living in peace and fraternity.
Muslims and Christians have been living together on this land since time immemorial, he added, indicating that calls for Christians to leave their land are spurned.
President of the Levant Scholars’ Union Mohammad Tawfik Ramadan al-Bouti, in turn, said fraternity and Muslim-Christian coexistence has been a characteristic feature of Syria, adding conspiracies to tear apart Syria’s unique national unity will be met with failure.
The deplorable state of affairs in Syria and the region, which is strange to its history, is a free service to Israel and the enemies of the nation, he added.
M. Ismael
