Syria: Church shelters families as fierce fighting erupts in Aleppo

Fr Hugo Alaniz pictured during a visit to ACN's international headquarters ©ACN

Source: Aid to the Church in Need

The Church in Syria has been sheltering families during renewed violence in Syria following yesterday's election.

Speaking with Aid to the Church in Need, Father Hugo Alaniz, who has been a missionary in Aleppo for more than a decade, said the last 24 hours have harrowing for the city's Christian community.

He said: "There were intense clashes until 3am, explosions were heard everywhere. Now the situation is somewhat calmer, but people are very afraid. We have been receiving families in the basement of our church, where we usually do community activities."

Father Hugo's church, Our Lady of the Assumption, has become a makeshift shelter for residents seeking protection from attacks and shelling.

Fr Hugo said: "Two missiles have fallen near us, one three hundred metres from our church. Others landed in another part of the city, near the Latin bishopric. .. There was a lot of movement of people, internal displacements - the streets are now half empty. People are very afraid, we don't know what is going to happen"

Syria held parliamentary elections yesterday, 6th October, the first since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime.

The vote took place despite ongoing tensions between the central authorities and Kurdish forces in the north who wish to maintain autonomy.

Direct fighting between the two factions has been taking place in parts of Aleppo, where two neighbourhoods of the city are administered by Kurdish forces.

Fr Hugo, a member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) and parish priest of Our Lady of the Assumption, is in charge of the pastoral and humanitarian care of hundreds of families not only affected by the war but also by the economic crisis.

Aleppo, which for centuries was considered the economic and cultural heart of Syria, was one of the cities hardest hit by the civil war.

Fr Hugo told ACN that his mission, along with other priests and religious Sisters, is "to be close to the people, to console, listen and help in whatever way we can. The only thing we ask is that you pray for us. On a day like today, when the Holy Father has asked us to pray the rosary for peace, do not forget Syria."

LINK

Aid to the Church in Need: https://acnuk.org