Envoy: US 'appalled' by reported killing of priest in Syria
US envoy to Syria Robert Ford has condemned the killing of Catholic Priest Father François Mourad and stated that "unprovoked violence against civilians is completely unacceptable"
A top US diplomat has strongly condemned the reported killing by rebels of a Catholic priest at a monastery in Syria's northwestern Idlib province earlier this week.
"We are appalled by reports that extremist rebels killed Father François Mourad earlier this week when they looted a monastery in Idlib province,” US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said in a statement posted Saturday to the US Embassy in Syria’s Facebook page. “This unprovoked violence against civilians is completely unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
“We call on all Syrians to protect and respect the rights of all civilians, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or religion,” Ford’s statement said. “No matter how depraved the Asad regime is, committing atrocities under the guise of fighting is unjustifiable.”
Father François Mourad died June 24 at the Franciscan monastery of St. Anthony of Padua, in Ghassanieh, Syria, “where he had sought refuge some time ago,” the Pro Terra Sancta website, affiliated with his Franciscan of the Holy Land order, wrote June 25.
