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AP Photo
Giant bronze statue of Jesus under construction.
# Syria
Armed groups hold their fire as giant bronze Jesus statue is erected on top of Syrian mountain
Jesus stands, arms outstretched, on the Cherubim mountain, overlooking a route pilgrims took from Constantinople to Jerusalem in ancient times.
IN THE MIDST of a conflict rife with sectarianism, a giant bronze statue of Jesus has gone up on a Syrian mountain, apparently under cover of a truce among three factions in the country’s civil war.
Jesus stands, arms outstretched, on the Cherubim mountain, overlooking a route pilgrims took from Constantinople to Jerusalem in ancient times. The statue is 40 feet tall and stands on a base that brings its height to 105 feet, organisers of the project estimate.
(AP Photo)
Eight years in the making
That the statue made it to Syria and went up without incident in October. The project took eight years and was set back by the civil war that followed the March 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Christians and other minorities are all targets in the conflict, and the statue’s safety is by no means guaranteed. It stands among villages where some fighters, linked to al-Qaida, have little sympathy for Christians.
So why put up a giant statue of Christ in the midst of such setbacks and so much danger?
Jesus
Because “Jesus would have done it,” organiser Samir al-Ghadban quoted a Christian church leader as telling him.
(AP Photo)
Al-Ghadban said that the main armed groups in the area — Syrian government forces, rebels and the local militias of Sednaya, the Christian town near the statue site — halted fire while organisers set up the statue, without providing further details.
Rebels and government forces occasionally agree to cease-fires to allow the movement of goods. They typically do not admit to having truces because that would tacitly acknowledge their enemies.
It took three days to raise the statue. Photos provided by organisers show it being hauled in two pieces by farm tractors, then lifted into place by a crane. Smaller statues of Adam and Eve stand nearby.
(AP Photo)
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