Workers prepare to install the statue of Jesus on Mount Sednaya.

Workers prepare to install the statue of Jesus on Mount Sednaya. Photo: AP

Amid a conflict rife with sectarianism, a giant bronze statue of Jesus has gone up on a Syrian mountain, apparently under cover of a truce among three warring factions.

Jesus stands, arms outstretched, on Saidnaya mountain, overlooking a route pilgrims took from Constantinople to Jerusalem in ancient times. The statue is 12.3 metres tall and stands on a base that brings its height to 32 metres.

That the statue made it to Syria and went up without incident on October 14 is remarkable. The project took eight years and was set back by the conflict that followed the March 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The statue's safety is by no means guaranteed. It stands among villages where some fighters have little sympathy for Christians. The Qalamoun Mountains, near the Lebanese border, are also at the heart of an increasingly intense struggle between rebels and government forces backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.

So why put up a giant statue of Christ amid so much danger?

Because ''Jesus would have done it'', organiser Samir al-Ghadban quoted Syria's Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X as telling him.

Mr Ghadban said the main armed groups in the area halted fire while organisers set up the statue.

The project, called I Have Come to Save the World, is run by the London-based St Paul and St George Foundation, which Mr Ghadban directs. It was previously named the Gavrilov Foundation after a Russian businessman, Yuri Gavrilov.

Documents filed with Britain's Charity Commission describe it as supporting ''deserving projects in the field of science and animal welfare'' in Britain and Russia, but accounts show it spent less than £250 ($420) in the past four years.

Mr Ghadban said most of the money came from private donors.

Russians have been a driving force behind the project, which is not surprising given the Kremlin is Dr Assad's chief ally, and the Orthodox churches in Russia and Syria have close ties.

AP