Syria Christian refugees in Lebanon fear Islamist rebels

[cqo_000]

Source: Los Angeles Times

ZAHLE, Lebanon — For most of the refugees streaming across the border into Lebanon, Syrian President Bashar Assad is to blame for the violence back home and the rebel effort to oust him is laudable. For the traumatized Christians among them, it's often the opposite.

The rebellion, led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, has stirred profound concern among Christians, who make up about 10% of Syria's population. Some say they detect an increasingly radicalized Islamist strain among the rebels that makes them fear for their future.


Mindful of the persecution of Christians and the rise of Islamist extremists in neighboring Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a secular autocrat like Assad, some Christians here fear that their community will become a similar target, especially as the conflict engulfs Syria's two major cities, Aleppo and Damascus, each with large Christian populations. The cities were relatively insulated from the rebellion until fierce fighting broke out last month.

"The nightmare for Christians is when the revolution took an Islamist face," said Mother Agnes Mariam, a Catholic nun and mother superior of a monastery in Homs province. "It is not the moderate Islam we know in Syria. We are talking about a kind of aggressive and impulsive Islam."



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-christians-20120822,0,5720192.story

[JayhawkSD]

1. Oh, good, somebody finally noticed the Christians.

The US is madly cheering for the destruction of Assad, but not noticing that he is protecting the Christian community, who will be "ethnically cleansed" if he loses. They will either be killed or will become stateless refugees. Well, tough, who cares as long as we get rid of Assad?

It should be noted, too, that "the moderate Islam we know in Syria" are the Alawites, who are Assad's people. They actually are only marginally Muslims at all and actually celebrate Christmas. They too will be ethnically cleansed if Assad loses. I guess that's just a bump in the road to getting rid of Assad, no big deal.

In case anyone takes me seriously, here, about not caring; don't.

[David__77]

2. The US is on the wrong side in Syria.

I don't support the US intervening on either side, but I definitely think the US should do everything in its power to ensure that military and political support are not extended to the "Free Syria" group and allied Islamist militia. The Salafists have firmly established their organizational and ideological hegemony among the armed opposition. Opposition groups like NCB contain patriotic and progressive groups, but they are irrelevant at this point.