Two Orthodox archbishops kidnapped by rebels in Syria have been released.Both have been returned to the city of Aleppo, the Greek Orthodox Bishop, Tony Yazigi, said this evening.
The Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yaziji were seized on Monday. They were driving back from a pastoral visit to the village of Kfar Dael near the Turkish border when they were met by an armed group that forced them out of their car.
According to the World Council of Arameans (WCA), a Syriac rights group, the priest who was driving them was killed. The group said in a statement: "Their car was intercepted and the driver was cold-bloodedly shot dead, either during or shortly after the attack."
Syria's religious affairs ministry reportedly said that there was evidence to suggest that the captors were Chechen mercenaries working under the leadership of al-Nursa Front, a jihadist rebel group.
WCA said the prelates were captured between Kafer Dael and Mansura, in one of the most dangerous areas in Syria known as the frontline between the Free Syria Army and the Syrian Government Army.
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said the kidnapping "has sent a lot of concern to the Christian community in Aleppo and throughout Syria".
Mar Gregorios spoke at London's Heythrop College last year on the situation of Christians in Syria and the wider Middle East.