Churches Call to Halt Bombardment of Aleppo

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has joined other church leaders in a call for an end to the bombardment of the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The Rt Rev Dr Russell Barr said he was ‘appalled’ by attacks on ordinary civilians which can never be passed off as a consequence of war and that the ‘slaughter must end now’.

Dr Barr has signed a joint statement on behalf of the Church of Scotland along with the leaders of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church in Wales, Quakers in Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church. The churches collectively represent more than a million people across the UK.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, says that in the two weeks following the ceasefire, 376 people have been killed – a third of them children – and 1266 people injured following bombardment by Syrian and Russian governments and their supporting forces.

The statement by the church leaders reads: ““The destruction of Aleppo must stop.

“We are appalled by the attacks on civilians by the Syrian Government, Russian and other forces. Life is a gift of God. The targeting and killing of civilians can never be passed off merely as a consequence of war.

“Aerial strikes on homes, hospitals and aid convoys are never acceptable, under any circumstances.

“The responsibility for such attacks lies first and foremost with those who have carried them out.

“But the frequency of such attacks in Syria also underlines a failure on the part of the international community to uphold long-established principles concerning the immunity of civilians in conflict.

“Member states of the United Nations should seek to hold to account the parties responsible for indiscriminate attacks on men, women, children, hospitals, humanitarian and rescue workers, which could be construed as war crimes.

“The world cries out for an end to the death and destruction in Syria that daily adds to the largest flight of refugees since the Second World War.

“We join with our brothers and sisters of other churches and other faiths in praying for the people of Syria.

“We claim no simple solution to a complex political reality but offer the simple message of our faith: that every life is valued by God and that the slaughter must end now.”

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