Syrian militia releases kidnapped Catholic priest

Father Dhiya Aziz was kidnapped by a "group of jihadists eager to profit on his release," the church announced Friday, without naming the group in question.

The 41-year old parish priest at Yacoubieh had been taken from a convent in northern Syria last Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Some reports have "led people to believe" that Aziz had been taken by the Nusra Front, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, a missionary organization, said on its website.

"This group has denied any involvement in his kidnapping and allegedly led the investigation in neighboring villages which led to his liberation," it said, adding the priest had been reportedly "treated well during his kidnapping."

Most of the Idlib province, which includes the majority-Christian village of Yacoubieh, is controlled by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front or its allies.

Stealing from the church

Christians made up some five percent of the Syrian population before the war broke out in 2011, but many have since fled the country.

The kidnapped priest was born in Mosul, and worked in Egypt and Jordan. He volunteered to be the village cleric in Yacoubieh, southwest of Syria's war-torn metropolis Aleppo.

Last month, Syrian rebels attacked and plundered a Franciscan convent in the area, killing a Catholic priest.

Several leading Christian figures have been kidnapped since the war started. Among them are Archbishop Gregorius Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church, who were based in Aleppo.

The two were taken in April 2013, with another cleric, Italian Jesuit Paolo Dall'Oglio, disappearing three months later. Their fates remain unknown.

dj/bk (AFP, KNA)