ALL too often it takes the death of an outsider to pique media interest in a conflict where locals are dying daily. But Father Frans van der Lugt's dedication to Syria was such that he would probably regard the attention sparked by his murder this morning as his last service to the country, where over 140,000 Syrians have died in the three-year conflict.
The Dutch Jesuit (pictured above) was shot dead on the morning of April 7th in the western Syrian city of Homs, a restive town parts of which are besieged by government troops. According to the Dutch Jesuit Order, a man entered his house and dragged him outside, beating him before shooting him in the head. The culprit is unclear, although some suspect extremist Sunni groups that have flourished as Syria's war has dragged on
The priest, a trained psychotherapist in his seventies, had been living in the Middle East since 1966. In the 1980s he founded an agricultural project close to Homs that offered jobs to young people with mental-health problems, who are often stigmatised in the region. He refused to leave Homs, even when 1,400 people were evacuated under a deal struck at the start of February.
His presence in the war-torn city did much to raise awareness of the situation in Syria and Homs in particular. The city was once a vibrant hub with Muslims and Christians living together and at least ten churches. But as a hotbed in the uprising-turned-civil war that started in March 2011 (Homs was known then as the capital of the revolution), the city has paid a heavy price. Government troops have completely destroyed rebellious areas of the city, most notably Baba Amr in February 2012. Many famous mosques and churches now lie in ruins.
For almost two years, the government has been besieging the old city district, allowing no food in or people out other than during a shaky temporary ceasefire last month. In a video clip released in February, Father van der Lugt described, in Arabic, how Syrians were dying from hunger. "Muslims and Christians are going through a difficult and painful time," he said. He told Pomegranate that he was surviving on a diet of bulghur and weeds.
His brother said he was not surprised by the news. But his family says the priest, who was also looking after artworks and relics, had been feeling optimistic of late. He believed that the extremists were losing power, and described his relations with Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, some of whose members lived on the same street, as "tricky" but "cordial". Most reckoned it was hunger that threatened Father van der Lugt, who sounded weaker when he last spoke to his family on March 15th. He remained unafraid, telling Pomegranate: "I have an adventurous nature".
