Awqaf Ministry Condemns Abduction of Bishops in Aleppo

23/4/13 DAMASCUS, (SANA)-  Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments) condemned the terrorists’ abduction of Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskenderun, Bishop Paul Yazigi, and the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Bishop John Ibrahim, in addition to a deacon in a car in northern Aleppo. “This terrorist operation comes in completion of the plot to target opinion and thought leaders which already claimed the life of one of the most prominent Islamic religion and thought scholars, Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti,” the Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. It stressed that the latest aggression crime of abducting the bishops “is an aggression on all men of religion in Syria and the Arab and Islamic world as a whole.” The statement indicated the continuation of terror operations of all forms in implementation of the “ferocious international attack” targeting Syria, carried out by takfiri armed terrorist groups, topped by Jabhat al-Nusra which declared allegiance to al-Qaeda.