Syrian bishops remain missing despite contradicting reports<

Foreign Policy
Published: 24 April 2013

Church sources in Aleppo and Damascus said the two bishops abducted on Monday remain missing , despite reports they had been freed. Armed militants reportedly seized Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo and Boulou Yaziji, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Aleppo, in a contested area of northern Aleppo. Syrian officials have blamed a "terrorist group" while opposition fighters have denied any involvement, claiming they are working to find the bishops who are the most senior Christian figures yet to be caught up in the Syrian war. A Christian advocacy group and Al Jazeera reported Ibrahim and Yaziji were released on Tuesday, however later on, Abdel-Ahad Steifo, a Syriac member of the Syrian opposition, told Al Jazeera the bishops were still being held by their abductors. A source from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus also said there was no indication of their release. Meanwhile, U.S. officials said that investigations have yet to produce conclusive evidence to confirm Israel's claims that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons . Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, Israel's senior military intelligence analyst, has cited photographic and other forms of evidence of the use of chemical weapons. However, White House spokesman Jay Carney stated, "We have not come to the conclusion that there has been that use." The Syrian regime has prevented a U.N. investigation into the alleged chemical weapons use. Soil samples were reportedly smuggled into Britain and suggested "some use of chemical weapons," however there was no evidence of who might have employed them.