Syria’s Muslim, Christian clerics criticize rebels, sanctions

Weedah Hamza 10/1/2012 Beirut (dpa) – Syria’s top Muslim cleric on Tuesday called on the rebel army to lay down its weapons, while a leading Christian archbishop criticized Western sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. “I call on all those who have taken up arms to lay them down,” said Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, who has close ties to the Syrian regime and whose son was killed by gunmen last year.