Syrian Bishop Appeals for Refugees in Jezireh Region

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

A Syrian bishop on Friday appealed to the international community to prevent the conflict from reaching Jezireh in northeast Syria, saying it was sheltering 400,000 internally displaced people.

"I am launching an SOS so that you will not be able to say tomorrow with diplomatic hypocrisy: 'We didn't know'," Monsignor Behnan Hindo, the Syrian Catholic archbishop of Hassake-Nisibe, said in an appeal seen by AFP.

The impassioned appeal was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and the United Nations and said it was written on behalf of the three Christian bishops in the region as well as all the different ethnic communities living there.

"What we really want is for all those to whom we are appealing urgently to put pressure on the different armed groups and the Syrian Liberation Army not to enter our region," the bishop said.

He also called for armed groups to leave the "ghost town" of Ras El-Ain, a border town from which some 30,000 people have fled.

He said an attack on Jezireh region would force 400,000 internally displaced people to flee again and create 800,000 more refugees.

Military action would mean "the total destruction of neighborhoods and of cities since the Syrian army will bomb everywhere," he said, adding: "Save us from any military intervention! We are handling the situation ourselves."

"Our work is neutral and we do not want to become cannon fodder," he added

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