Al-Rahi Begins Syria Visit, Calls for 'Peaceful Solutions'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi arrived Sunday in war-torn Syria for a pastoral visit and called for "peaceful solutions" to the country's bloody conflict.

"We came for peace and for peaceful solutions in Syria and for the endurance of Syrians in their land, both Christians and Muslims," al-Rahi during a visit to the French hospital in Damascus.

He later delivered a sermon at the Maronite Archbishopric of Damascus in the mainly Christian Bab Touma neighborhood.

“In this Levant, we are witnessing a strategy of absurd wars aimed at chaos, destruction and killing,” the patriarch said.

“We demand an end to the injustice against our people, we demand peace, we demand an end to the war and we demand political solutions,” said al-Rahi.

“We demand an honorable return of the displaced to their homes and land. We condemn injustice, we condemn the death of the world's conscience and we condemn all those who are offering arms and money for destruction, death and displacement,” he added.

Commenting on controversy in Lebanon over his current and previous visits to Syria, al-Rahi added: “The Maronites have churches, a heritage and a culture in Syria and we are being criticized every time we visit it, but the love of Christ is above all else.”

Later on Sunday, LBCI television reported that Syrian Islamic Endowments Minister Mohammed Sayyed and a delegation of Muslim clerics met with al-Rahi at the Maronite Archbishopric in Damascus.

The patriarch had arrived earlier in the day at the Syrian border area of Jdeidet Yabous where he was welcomed by Maronite Archbishop of Damascus Samir Nassar and Greek Orthodox Vicar General Bishop Ephraim Maalouli, LBCI said.

The seat of the Maronite church had announced Wednesday that al-Rahi will not hold talks with Syrian officials during his visit to Damascus.

Bkirki's press officer Walid Ghayyad said the trip is “pastoral and will not include any political meetings.”

Al-Rahi's visit to the Syrian capital has three objectives -- inaugurating the Maronite Social Center, participating in a Christian spiritual summit and attending the inauguration of the Orthodox patriarchate, he added.

This will not be the first time that al-Rahi travels to Damascus as a patriarch. He visited the Syrian capital around two years ago when he attended Greek Orthodox leader Youhanna X Yazigi's enthronement.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government demonstrations that were met with a regime crackdown.

Y.R.