CWN - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako has warned that the spreading violence in Libya is a “trap” set by the Islamic State, and said that Italy should resist the temptation toward military involvement.

“It’s better not to start a war, which then has no end—as the Americans did in Iraq,” said the Chaldean leader, in an interview with the Zenit news service. He pointed out that in Syria, too, warfare has now continued for four years without achieving a useful end. The Iraqi prelate said that statements made by spokesmen for the Islamic State, vowing to extend their control over Libya and threatening eventually to conquer Rome, were baiting the trap, especially for Italy.

Patriarch Sako said that in Iraq, years of bloodshed have drawn together the country’s people, including both Christians and Muslims. “The dimension of suffering, on the purely human plane, brings the two religions close,” he said.

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