ICC Note: Before and after pictures of a Syrian church in Aleppo have emerged on social media showing the destruction of the building during an armed conflict. There is little information on when the attack occurred or which armed force is responsible for the destruction. These photos accompany other news in Syria of another kidnapped priest and reports of a church intentionally blown up in Iraq.
07-08-2015 Syria (The Blaze): A side-by-side photo montage has emerged that purports to show what a Syrian church in Aleppo looked like before and after it was bombed.
The after photo shows the church’s ceiling completely sheared off.
It isn’t known when the attack occurred or which armed force was behind the destruction in the latest development causing concern among the embattled Christian minority and their supporters overseas. Those concerns were further fueled by reports that another Syrian priest was kidnapped and that a church in Iraq was intentionally blown up by the Islamic State group.
The Custody of the Holy Land, which oversees the activity of the Franciscan Order in the Near East, said Tuesday that it had lost contact with one of its priests in Syria and feared he may have been abducted by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.
The Custody said Tuesday it had not heard from Father Dhiya Aziz, a parish priest in the predominantly Christian village of Yacoubieh in the northwestern Idlib province, since Saturday.
“Some militants of an unknown armed brigade, perhaps connected with the Nusra Front, came to take him away for a brief interview with the emir of the place,” the Catholic group said. “From that moment we do not have any more news and we are unable to trace his whereabouts at the present moment. We are doing everything possible to locate the place of his detention and secure his release.” The group asked for prayers for his well-being.
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