Fr Hugo Alaniz recounts a night of explosions and fear in Aleppo: “People are very afraid, we don’t know what is going to happen”
In the midst of a new wave of fighting, the Argentine priest describes hours of anguish in Aleppo. His parish has once again become a refuge for dozens of families.
With the sound of loud explosions and heavy weapons in the background, Fr Hugo Alaniz, who has been a missionary in Aleppo for over a decade, tells Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about one of the most difficult days that the city’s Christian community has experienced in recent months.
“There were intense clashes until 3 AM, explosions were heard everywhere. Now the situation is somewhat calmer, but people are very afraid. We have been receiving families in the basement of our church, where we usually do community activities,” he says in a message sent to ACN, an international Catholic charity with which he is in frequent contact.
Syria held parliamentary elections on Monday, 6 October, the first since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The vote took place in a context of tensions between the central authorities and Kurdish forces which operate in the north and wish to maintain autonomy.
Direct fighting between the two factions is taking place in parts of the city of Aleppo, where two neighbourhoods of the city are already administered by Kurdish forces. The repercussions are strongly felt among the civilian population, which fears a new wave of violence. “Today the schools have remained closed due to the fighting,” the priest confirms.
Fr Hugo Alaniz, a member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) and parish priest of Our Lady of the Assumption, is in charge of the pastoral and humanitarian care of hundreds of families affected by the war and by the economic crisis that follows years of conflict and siege.
His church has become, not for the first time, a makeshift shelter for residents seeking protection from attacks and shelling: “Two missiles have fallen near us, one three hundred meters from our church. Others landed in another part of the city, near the Latin bishopric.”
Tension began to mount during the day, Fr Hugo tells ACN: “There was a lot of movement of people, internal displacements; the streets are now half empty.”
Aleppo, which for centuries was considered the economic and cultural heart of Syria, remains one of the cities hardest hit by the conflict. Reconstruction is progressing slowly and the wounds of the war are still visible in the eastern and northern neighborhoods of the city.
Fr Hugo assures ACN that his mission, along with other priests and religious sisters, is “to be close to the people, to console, listen and help in whatever way we can”.
“The only thing we ask is that you pray for us. On a day like today, when the Holy Father has asked us to pray the rosary for peace, do not forget Syria.”
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