Sept 27, 2012: The Greek-Catholic patriarch of Damascus has reported that all 240
Greek Melkite faithful who were kidnapped on Tuesday near the Syrian village of Rableh,
have been released, reports Vatican Insider. The town is situated between the Lebanese
border and the city of Qusayr, in the Syrian province of Homs. The patriarch, Gregory
III Laham, communicated the news to Vatican Radio.
The patriarch explained
that the reasons for the kidnapping are not yet clear: “There is a large community
of Greek-Catholic faithful in Rableh, they are the majority: there are Marronites
and Alawis.
"The Alawis are the main sore point. There is a tendency to get
Christians involved in order to make the problem a religious one and create a civil
war between the various communities."