Ignatius Aphrem II:

The Russians have also said that they have been asking the Americans for months to identify the moderate opposition but the Americans are unable to do so because there is none. That said, there are people who want reform and we welcome any opposition that is unarmed and political in nature. One of the opposition leaders in Syria right now heads a reconciliation movement. There are moderate people who are willing to sit down and negotiate. They are willing to give up their arms and return to society. There are thousands of such people. We have not been able to go through the suburb of alTel, north of Damascus, to get to our monastery because the rebels were in charge. Last week, however, the rebels came to an agreement with the Government, gave up their arms and created a local security apparatus to take care of the place and to make sure nobody would be hurt. This is what we are calling for - negotiation and dialogue among Syrians to find ways to live together. We do not want anyone else to be killed, even members of Daesh and other groups. We do not want them to be killed as long as they leave us alone and leave us in peace.

The atrocities of ISIS have been recognised as acts of genocide by the US Congress, the British Parliament, the European Union Parliament and the Australian Parliament. Perhaps it would be possible for the Irish Parliament to recognise the atrocities of ISIS and other fanatical groups against Christians, Yazidis and others as acts of genocide. Hopefully after that action will be taken on foot of such recognition that will bring those who are committing these atrocities to justice.

A question was asked about attacks on Christians and people of other faiths. We have been targeted as Syrians who are not willing to take sides. As Christians, we do not take sides. The Government wanted us to arm young people to guard our churches but we refused to do that at the beginning. However, our people found that they were going to be killed and crushed by the so-called opposition unless they defended themselves. Hence, some young Christians came together, took up arms and defended their neighbourhoods. I personally was the target of a suicide attack last June. I was in my home town and 35 m from where I was standing, at a gathering of people commemorating the 100th anniversary of genocide against our people during the time of the Ottoman Empire, a suicide bomber set himself off and two people were killed. I was only 35 m away from him. Two of our archbishops were kidnapped and we know nothing of their whereabouts. Many priests have been killed and many churches have been destroyed. Mosques have also been destroyed and Islamic religious scholars have also been killed. All the people are being targeted. Daesh and other groups act in the name of Islam but they do not represent the Islam that we lived with. We do not believe they represent the real Islam that existed in Syria for 1,500 years.

I will stop now because I want to give others the opportunity to speak.