“We have made multiple contacts with several international sides and the nuns’ release was imminent, but the issue stumbled again,” Rai told reporters before heading to the Vatican to take part in meetings at the Roman Catholic Church’s central governing body.

He urged all the countries “that are either eager for a Syria war or to talk peace in Syria” to put efforts to secure the release of the Greek Orthodox nuns who were taken from the Mar Takla convent in Maaloula by militants in early December, after al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front attacked the historic town.

“The nuns’ detention is a disgrace to the world,” Rai stressed.

The nuns appeared in a new video broadcast by the Qatar-based satellite news channel Al-Jazeera on Sunday.

There was no sound on the video. A commentator, however, said the nuns stated that they were in good health.

SHI/SHI