CAIRO: Al Azhar in Cairo, Sunni Islam’s highest authority, yesterday declared its firm opposition to any US strikes on Syria, saying this would amount to “an aggression against the Arab and Islamic nation”.
The institution in a statement “expressed its categorical rejection and condemnation of the decision by the American President (Barack Obama) to launch military strikes on Syria,” to punish president Bashar Al Assad’s regime for an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus last month that left hundreds dead. Al Azhar said such strikes would amount to “an aggression against the Arab and Islamic nation... which endangers peace and international security.”
The Islamic institution insisted on “the right of the Syrian people to decide their destiny and their government for themselves in all freedom and transparency,” while condemning the “recourse to chemical weapons, whoever it was that used them.” AFP
