“Support of gunmen by the west is helping extremists in killing Syrians”

From Ken Hanly :

Aleppo – A report indicates that a Syrian Catholic Priest Francois Murad was murdered in the Gassanieh in northern Syria on Sunday June 23rd. Many of the Muslim radical rebels are hostile to Christians. and accuse them of supporting Assad.

The report comes from the Custody of the Holy Land. Murad studied in Palestine and was building a monastery in Gassanieh, Idlib.

Local sources claim that the monastery was raided by gunmen who executed Murad and then looted and burned the monastery. Thousands of people are reported to have fled the area. The Vatican News Agency, cited Pierbattista Pizzaballa the head of all Franciscans in the Holy Land who said:

 ‘The world must know that the support of gunmen by the west is helping extremists in killing Syrians..‘with such stances, not a single Christian will remain in the East.’ 

Syrian Christians are increasingly being targeted by armed groups. Another church was destroyed recently as well in Deir Ezzor. Apparently all Christians have fled the area.In Aleppo the historic Arabic Evangelical Church in the old town was mined with explosives and then blown up according to Pastor Ibrahim Nasir spiritual leader of the congregation. Two Christian bishops kidnapped in Aleppo at the beginning of the year are still missing. An entire Christian village near Homs was burned to the ground in May.In another even more recent incident, reported by the Washington Times, a priest and another Christian were beheaded in the presence of a cheering crowd of insurgents. The insurgents say they aided the enemy, Assad’s military. The appended video shows that activity. The killing is reported to have taken place in the Idlib area.