Patriarch Yazigi condemns series of explosions, says Maaloula nuns are safe

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Youhanna Yazigi condemned on Saturday, before leaving Beirut toward Moscow, the series of explosions claiming the lives of civilians, and said: "The latest suicide bomb attacks  are a sign of rejection of others".    

"Solutions are reached through peaceful, political means. For this purpose, we call on the Lebanese to overcome the current phase, to form a new cabinet that deals with the upcoming entitlements and to avoid any kind of constitutional vacuum," Yazigi added.

On another note, Patriarch Yazigi said the nuns of Maaloula are safe and are still in Syria’s Yabroud.          
Yazigi noted that he contacted the nuns, adding that negotiations are still ongoing in a bid to release them.         

A Syrian rebel group calling itself "Free Qalamoun" claimed on Friday, December 06, the responsibility for kidnapping 12 nuns and said it wants to trade them for a thousand female detainees held by the government.                         

Rebel spokesman Mohannad Abu al-Fidaa said the nuns were safe but "will not be released until several demands have been implemented, most importantly, the release of 1,000 Syrian women held in regime prisons".                 

Syria's Christian minority have generally tried to stay on the sidelines of the sectarian conflict pitting majority Sunni Muslims against the Alawite minority. Many Christians fear the rise of hardline Islamist groups.            

Islamist fighters who captured the Christian village of Maaloula north of Damascus moved the nuns from the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla to the nearby town of Yabrud on Monday, according to the Vatican envoy to Syria, Mario Zenari.