Ambassador connelly meets with Patriarch John X

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly met with Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John X Friday. The Ambassador conveyed Assumption Day greetings to the Patriarch and his ecclesia. Ambassador Connelly discussed with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch developments related to the kidnapping of Archbishop Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mor Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo, and repeated the United States' call for their immediate release. The Ambassador reiterated her condemnation in the strongest terms of yesterday's bombing in the southern suburbs of Beirut between the neighborhoods of Bir al-Abed and Al-Ruwais. She extended the United States' deepest condolences for the loss of innocent lives. Ambassador Connelly reaffirmed the United States' call for all parties to exercise calm and restraint. Ambassador Connelly stressed the United States' support for the principle of human and religious rights, including the rights of minorities, and emphasized the important and enduring role Christians continue to and must play in the region in concert with other religious groups. She renewed the commitment of the United States to a stable, sovereign, and independent Lebanon.