UN Chief Expressed Concern Over Deliberate Attacks on Religious Shrines in Syria

New York – United Nations (ST) – The UN Secretary- General Ban Ki- Moon expressed deep concern over the deliberate attacks on religious shrines in Syria and representatives of the Church , especially the kidnapping of twelve nuns in Mar Takla Maloula town  monastery , in rural  Damascus , demanding the need to preserve the integrity of the  abducted nuns.

The  UN Secretary -General stressed  in a statement read by his spokesman and published by the UN News Centre ,  the UN rejection ” to target people on the ground of  their religion or their religious affiliation and ethnicity .”

The  UN statement pointed to the UN Secretary-General joining  appeals to preserve the integrity and safety of all the nuns abducted in Syria , pointing to ” the need to protect civilians in various parts of Syria at risk .”

The UN statement expressed  extreme discomfort of targeting places of worship and representatives of religions in Syria, noting that ” those fears have been  confirmed recently after the disappearance of the 12 nuns from the Monastery of Saint Mar Takla in Maloula .”

One  terrorist group attacked last  Monday the archaeological town of Maloula in  Rural Damascus whose people  are the ,  the world’s only inhabitants still speak the language of Jesus Christ, and carried out acts of sabotage affected churches and houses of innocent civilians , raided the monastery of Mar Takla and detained the head of the monastery mother Blajia Sayyaf and  several  nuns who were working  in the monastery , and attacked its  orphanage .

T. Fateh