Bishop Georges Abou Khazen, who ministers in Syria’s largest city, has told Aid to the Church in Need that “for the last 20 days we have been under bombardment, almost daily bombing.”

“And all this is the work of jihadist groups,” said Bishop Abou Khazen, the apostolic vicar for Aleppo’s Latin-rite Catholics, who added that jihadists opposed to the Syrian government control between half and two-thirds of the city. “Nearly all our churches are damaged and some of them are completely destroyed.”

“Russia and others are pushing for negotiations, and many of the Syrians want this negotiation to succeed,” he continued. “But, as you know, we have thousands upon thousands of foreign fighters in the country.”