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Patriarch of Antioch accuses the USA of destroying interreligious peace in Iraq

Damascus, January 20, Interfax - The military intervention of the USA and their allies in the life of Iraq has destroyed the interreligious peace throughout the region, Patriarch Ignatios of Antioch and All the East believes.

‘Saddam was really a cruel dictator, but he stood up for religious minorities. Now, as a result of the intervention in Iraq, the fragile peace and balance between the confessions have been broken, and many Christians have had to flee to other countries’, Patriarch Ignatios said in an interview publish by the Trud daily on Friday.

He said the Middle East states are facing today serious social and religious problems, which have resulted in terrorism.

‘Therefore we stand for changes in the Middle East and most cardinal changes at that, but they should be carried out peacefully, even more so without any interference from outside’, the patriarch believes.

Iraq is one of the countries situated in the canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Antioch, along with Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, and the UAE.

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