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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Expelled Italian priest urges Syrian unity against Assad’s regime

After he was expelled from Syria last month, Father Paolo became an unofficial diplomat for the people of Syria and their uprising. (Al Arabiya)
After he was expelled from Syria last month, Father Paolo became an unofficial diplomat for the people of Syria and their uprising. (Al Arabiya) 
 

An Italian priest may seem an unlikely champion of Syrian national unity, yet Paolo Dall’Oglio’s is investing immense efforts to bridge deep divisions among Syrians.

Bashar al-Assad’s government expelled Dall’Oglio last month, three decades after he revived a monastery on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Syrian desert that became a center for dialogue between the country’s myriad ethnic and religious communities.  

A big man with a loud voice and a calm manner, Dall’Oglio, 57, has reinvented himself as an unofficial diplomat on behalf of Assad’s opponents abroad. 

As a deeply-divided opposition movement tried to narrow their differences at a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, the bearded Dall’Oglio was a key fixture, hurrying among the delegates and relaying messages from embattled activists back home.
 

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