The speech of Mor Gregotios Yohanna Ibrahim, Syriac Orthodox bishop of Aleppo, was more political. He pointed the finger “at the invader”, which “has occupied the country to carry out the evil plans concerning the control of its energy sources and its properties”. “The invader does not fear God and doesn’t know human values and morals, but it is just pursuing its own interest. In this respect, Mar Delly knows the situation better than we do, especially when he reports the violent deeds perpetrated against the houses of the Lord, the mosques and the churches, as well as against the cultural institutions linked with them. Together with him, we say that the deeds performed by the invaders are inhuman”. According to the bishop of Aleppo, the prosecution of the Christians, their forced migration, “accepted neither by Islam, nor by Christianity”, let us think that “there is a precise plan meant to undermine the national unity of Iraq, the religious, ethnical and cultural mosaic made up by its citizens. I think it is rather normal for a country invader to wish its children to fight with each other, prosecuting the weakest, so as to pull down the walls of civilization in that country, robbing its properties and destroying any hopes for development”. However, he concludes, “we must not be afraid of that, because one day the sun will be back, and on that day, we shall feel God with us, with the whole country, and with all its citizens, both Muslims and Christians”.
