Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Idleb, SANA- Terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra kidnapped Father Dhiya Aziz, the parish priest at the Yacoubieh monastery in Jisr al-Shougur area in Idleb countryside.
The Custody of the Holy Land order of friars, which is located in occupied Jerusalem, said in a statement released on its website that connection with Father Dhiya Aziz, an Iraqi Franciscan friar from the Custody of the Holy Land, has been lost since Saturday late afternoon after militants of Jahbat al-Nusra took him away.
The statement said that the Custody is doing everything possible to find out where he is being detained and secure his release.
Takfiri terrorist organizations have kidnapped a number of religious figures over the past few years; nearly two years ago they abducted bishops John Ibrhaim and Paul Yazigi in Aleppo.
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, said that the abduction of Father Aziz to is one more example of the crimes that terrorist organizations are committing against Christians in Syria and Iraq with, the terrorists destroying churches and abducting clergymen in order to wipe out the Christian historical presence in Syria and Iraq.
In a letter expressing solidarity with the Custody, Hanna said that despite all the suffering they endure, Christians will remain an integral part of the Arab East, and that terrorists are targeting all Arabs, not only Christians.
Manar al-Freih / Hazem Sabbagh
