“If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties.”
This is Father Francis Van Der Lugt, a beloved Dutch priest shot dead by a gunman Monday in the Syrian city of Homs, AFP reported.
Van der Lugt, 75, had remained in Homs in solidarity with residents, despite the regime's siege of the city.
Yazan Homsy / Reuters
"The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties," the Jesuit priest, known as Father Fran, told AFP in February.
AP Photo/About our Neighborhood Hamidiyeh Simply
The Syrian government has besieged much of Homs for nearly two years, shelling rebel-held areas and causing a rising humanitarian crisis. The U.N. evacuated 1,500 people in February — but the priest refused to leave his monastery and the Homsi people.
"The faces of people you see in the street are weak and yellow. Their bodies are weakened and have lost their strength," Van der Lugt told AFP prior to the February U.N. evacuation.
Yazan Homsy / Reuters
Jan Stuyt, secretary of the Dutch Jesuit Order, confirmed Van Der Lugt's death. "A man came into his house, took him outside and shot him twice in the head," Stuyt told AFP. The motive and identity of the gunman remains unknown.
AP Photo/Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
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