Everybody suffering in Syria as war destroys nation and families, bishop says

Children and adults gather outside their homes on a damaged street in Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria.Reuters

In war, there is always no winner, and the current situation in Syria clearly shows this.

The Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo—the Syrian city now at the centre of firefights—recently lamented how armed conflict has left residents like him with a "destroyed country and destroyed families."

In an interview with the Vatican Radio, Bishop Antoine Audo described how the fighting in Aleppo has left some two million people without access to basic needs like food, clean water and electricity.

"Everybody is suffering everywhere in Syria. The people are suffering, becoming poor under the violence of attacks every day," Audo said in the interview, adding that even areas in the city controlled by the government are running short on supplies.

Aside from taking away basic needs of residents, the war has also taken the lives of Syrians, the bishop lamented.

"Because of the war, especially of the bombings everywhere, there are many killed people and victims," he said.

He added that most of the residents, including Christians, have decided to flee the conflict-torn area to save themselves.

Despite the worsening situation in their area, Bishop Audo said Christians who chose to stay continue to put their trust in God.

"They say we have a big faith in the Lord. The visionary, they protect us until now. This is what they repeat, those who stay. Those who leave, they try to emigrate because they don't support insecurity and poverty in all levels. This is our situation at the moment," the Roman Catholic prelate said.

Audo said he and his fellow Aleppo residents are still optimistic that his country's leaders will come up with a way to end the war.

"Our point of view as Church, we need a political solution... under the authority of the United Nations.. I hope the groups, armed people, extremists that fight, unfortunately, in the name of Islam, we hope one day, the war will end," the bishop said.