HASSAKE, Syria: Orthodox Christians in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakah celebrated the inauguration of the community’s new bishop on Saturday, four years after the last one left the country.
Six years of conflict have ravaged Syria and displaced more than half of its population, including millions who have become refugees.
Christians in some parts of the country have been particularly targeted by the jihadists of the Daesh group, who have torn down and desecrated churches and Christian icons.
In the Saint George Cathedral in Hasakah city, worshippers said Archbishop Maurice Amseeh’s arrival was a sign that their community remained resilient despite the war.
“It’s true that many have left, but we’re still here, and what happened today is the proof that we’re still here in this country and that we will stay,” said 23-year-old student Jenny Hakop.
Congregants ululated as Amseeh walked down the aisle, dressed in white and blue robes richly embroidered with gold thread.
“To have a flock without a bishop is difficult, it loses its way,” said Georgette, a 37-year-old schoolteacher, expressing the hope that Amseeh would help revitalize the church.
Amseeh’s official mandate extends to the Syriac Orthodox community throughout the Jazeera and Euphrates region, including neighboring Deir Ezzor province, which remains largely under Daesh control.
“As soon as Deir Ezzor is freed from terrorism, I will make a blessed trip there to start rebuilding both buildings and people,” he told AFP.
Much of Hasakah province and Hasakah city are under the control of a Kurdish “autonomous administration” with smaller parts of both controlled by the central government.
Among the pictures and bunting adorning the church exterior on Saturday was a large poster of President Bashar Assad.
Syriac Christians belong to the eastern Christian tradition and pray in Aramaic. They include both Orthodox and Catholic branches, and constitute around 15 percent of Syria’s 1.2 million Christians.
Before the conflict began in March 2011, Christians from some 11 different sects made up around five percent of the population.
More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the country’s war began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
New bishop brings hope to some of Syria’s Christians
New bishop brings hope to some of Syria’s Christians
Palestinians wait at border between Gaza and Egypt as uncertainty clouds reopening of Rafah crossing
Palestinians wait at border between Gaza and Egypt as uncertainty clouds reopening of Rafah crossing
- At that pace, long waits are facing most of the roughly 20,000 sick and wounded people who Gaza’s Health Ministry has said need treatment abroad
- Reopening the crossing is considered key as the ceasefire agreement moves into a complicated second phase
- The bus with about 40 Palestinians that entered Gaza via Rafah on Tuesday arrived at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis early Wednesday morning, where their families welcomed them after spending the entire day waiting
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: Palestinians gathered on both sides of Gaza’s border with Egypt on Tuesday hoping to pass through the Rafah crossing, after its reopening the previous day was marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross.
On the Egyptian side were Palestinians who fled Gaza earlier in the Israel-Hamas war to seek medical treatment, according to Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News television. On the Gaza side, Palestinians in need of medical care that is unavailable in Gaza gathered at a hospital before ambulances moved toward Rafah, hoping for word that they would be allowed to cross the other way.
The office of the North Sinai governor confirmed Tuesday that an unknown number of patients and their companions had crossed from Gaza into Egypt.
The bus with about 40 Palestinians that entered Gaza via Rafah on Tuesday arrived at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis early Wednesday morning, where their families welcomed them after spending the entire day waiting.
Though hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire struck in October, it took more than 10 hours for only about a dozen returnees and a small group of medical evacuees to cross in each direction on the first day Rafah reopened.
Three women who crossed into Gaza on Monday told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Israeli troops blindfolded and handcuffed them, then interrogated and threatened them, holding them for several hours before they were released.
The numbers permitted to cross on Monday fell well short of the 50 people that officials had said would be allowed each way and barely began to address the needs of tens of thousands of Palestinians who are hoping to be evacuated for treatment or to return home.
The import of humanitarian aid or goods through Rafah remains prohibited.
’Not a solution to the crisis’
Evacuation efforts on Tuesday morning converged around a Red Crescent hospital in Khan Younis, where a World Health Organization team arrived and a vehicle carrying patients and their relatives rolled in from another hospital. Then the group of WHO vehicles and Palestinian ambulances headed toward Rafah to await crossing.
As the sick, wounded and displaced waited to cross in both directions, health officials said the small number allowed to exit so far paled beside Gaza’s tremendous needs. Two years of fighting destroyed much of its medical infrastructure and left hospitals struggling to treat trauma injuries, amputations and chronic conditions like cancer.
In Gaza City, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya called the pace “crisis management, not a solution to the crisis,” imploring Israel to permit the importing of medical supplies and equipment. He wrote on Facebook: “Denying the evacuation of patients and preventing the entry of medicines is a death sentence for them.”
UN and WHO officials said the trickle of patients allowed out and restrictions on bringing in desperately needed supplies are prolonging a disastrous situation in Gaza.
“Rafah must function as a real humanitarian corridor so we can have a surge in aid deliveries,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN’s top relief official.
Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson Raed Al-Nims told AP that only 16 patients with chronic conditions or war wounds, accompanied by 40 relatives, were brought from Khan Younis to the Gaza side of Rafah on Tuesday — less than the 45 patients and wounded the Red Crescent was told would be allowed.
After days of anticipation over the reopening, hope lingered that it might mark a meaningful first step. In Khan Younis, Iman Rashwan waited for hours until her mother and sister returned from Egypt, hoping others would soon see their loved ones again.
Waiting on both sides
Officials say the number of crossings could gradually increase if the system works, with Israel and Egypt vetting those allowed in and out. But security concerns and bureaucratic snags quickly tempered expectations raised by officials who for weeks had cast reopening as a major step in the ceasefire deal.
There were delays on Monday over disagreements about luggage allowances. Returnees were carrying more than anticipated with them, requiring additional negotiations, a person familiar with the situation told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the diplomatic matter.
“They didn’t let us cross with anything,” Rotana Al-Regeb said as she returned around midnight Monday to Khan Younis. “They emptied everything before letting us through. We were only allowed to take the clothes on our backs and one bag per person.”
The initial number of Palestinians allowed to cross is mostly symbolic. Israeli and Egyptian officials have said that 50 medical evacuees would depart — along with two caregiver escorts — and 50 Palestinians who left during the war would return.
At that pace, long waits are facing most of the roughly 20,000 sick and wounded people who Gaza’s Health Ministry has said need treatment abroad. About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive patients, authorities said.
Who and what would be allowed through Rafah was a central concern for both Israel and Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that anyone who wants to leave will eventually be permitted to do so, but Egypt has repeatedly said the Rafah crossing must open in both directions, fearing Israel could use it to push Palestinians out of Gaza.
Reopening the crossing is considered key as the ceasefire agreement moves into a complicated second phase. That calls for installing a new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.
In a meeting Tuesday with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem, Netayanhu repeated Israel’s “uncompromising demand” that Hamas be disarmed before any reconstruction begins, the prime minister’s office said.
A 19-year-old killed in southern Gaza
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said Ahmed Abdel-Al, 19, was shot and killed by Israeli troops on Tuesday morning in a part of the southern Gaza City, some distance away from the area under the Israeli military’s control.
Israel’s military said it was not immediately aware of any shootings in the area.
Abdel-Al was the latest of the 529 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the Oct. 10 start of the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. They are among more than 71,800 Palestinians killed since the start of the war, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
