Nora Al Ameer, vice president of the Syrian Coalition, said that “the assassination of Father Francis Van DerLugt “comes as the fruit of the false truce that Assad seeks to sign with besieged people inside the Old City so that his agents infiltrate the city and assassinate national figures who objected leaving despite the crippling blockade to prove that the siege affects Muslims and Christians alike.” Al Ameer also said that “the killing of Father Francis comes in the context of a series of truces and stormings by regime forces of Al Zara and Al Husnh and the detention of 25 families in Al Nasarah Valley west of Homs.” The assassination of the Father Francis followed the regime’s failure to mobilize the world public opinion about the alleged massacres against Armenians in the town of Kassab. The Syrian Coalition eulogized Father Francis who lived in Syria for more than 35 years, and refused to leave the besieged district of Old Homs, even when Assad’s forces launched a campaign against the area more than two years ago. He was a man of courage, who despite all difficulties, tried to highlight the plight of the Syrian people. In many video recordings, he appeared to call on the international community to provide humanitarian aid to men, women, and children facing starvation and constant bombardment. The Assad regime has always threatened and indeed targeted anyone who expressed sympathy with the Syrian people or displayed even a hint of opposition to Assad’s brutal practices against innocent civilians in Syria. Father Francis will be missed. He will always be remembered as a respectable priest and a man of noble character, who along with millions of Syrians, fell victim to regime oppression. (Source: Syrian Coalition)