Catholic, Orthodox leaders call for end to financing terrorists

Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs called for an end to financing terrorists and suggested that borders be closed when necessary to prevent their movement.

The leaders also appealed for the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, based on a long-standing proposal for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and pleaded for the return of Palestinian refugees to their native lands.

Their calls came in a statement released after a meeting  in Bkerke, the seat of the Maronite Catholic Church north of Beirut, to address the situation of Christians in the Middle East, especially those displaced from Iraq and Syria.

A representative of the Protestant churches of Syria and Lebanon as well as international aid officials also attended.

The ecumenical meeting comes on the heels of clashes that erupted between the Lebanese army and Syria-based militants in the outskirts of the town of Ras Baalbek, near the Syrian border.

Troops killed

Eight Lebanese troops were killed and more than 20 were wounded.

The participants expressed “grief over the martyrdom of eight more Lebanese Army soldiers as they were performing the duty of defending the border in the face of the terrorist groups”.