In a July interview, The Patriarch of Antioch, Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, called on the West to “stop arming and supporting terrorist groups that are destroying our countries and massacring our people.” The Syrian Christian leader added that “state institutions need to be strengthened and stabilised. Instead, what we see is their forced dismemberment being fuelled from the outside.”

The Patriarch also recounted a meeting he had with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad:

Along with bishops of his church he recently had talks with President Assad of Syria. “President Assad urged us to do everything in our hands to prevent Christians from leaving Syria. ‘I know you are suffering,’ he said, ‘but please don’t leave this land, which has been your home for thousands of years, even before Islam came.’ He said that Christians will also be needed when the time comes to rebuild this devastated country.”

He said the majority of Syrian citizens support Assad’s government and have always supported it.

“We recognise legitimate rulers and pray for them, as the New Testament teaches us. We also see that on the other side there is no democratic opposition, only extremist groups. Above all, we see that in the past few years, these groups have been basing their actions on an ideology that comes from the outside, brought here by preachers of hatred who have come from and are backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. These groups receive arms through Turkey too, as the media have shown us.”
Not only is the West attempting to destroy the last secular nation in the Middle East, it’s also giving weapons to Christian-killing fanatics. A sound foreign policy.

Source: russia-insider.com