Thursday, November 08, 2012

Christian suffering in Syria

An Armenian Church after a bombingIn recent days news agencies published the story about the death of the last remaining Christian in the city of Homs, a city that has undergone a religious “clean up” by Islamic rebels. 

Elias Mansour, 84, a Greek Orthodox Christian, had not wanted to abandon his house in Via Wadi Sayeh because he had to look after his handicapped son. 

The neighbourhood in which he lived was the scene of violent clashes. An Orthodox priest is looking for his son, whose whereabouts are unknown.

This is just one of many examples of lives torn apart by this “faceless” war, as some have defined it. The extent of the horror experienced in this war is illustrated by the story of one small Christian family which fled to France: Fadi, Myrian and Theresa (all ficticious names).  

They managed to flee the country and are waiting for their refugee status to be recognised. 

The French branch of “Aid to the Church in Need” told their story. Fadi and his family were living in Bad Tuma (St. Thomas Door) in Damascus, the main Christian neighbourhood in the capital. Bad Tuma is protected by regular army soldiers but despite this, life is becoming unbearable. 

“People start queuing outside the bakery at 6 in the morning – they say. Once we went for three whole days without bread.”

Some schools are still open, but parents prefer to keep their children at home for fear of bombings. “In September, a friend of mine went to enrol her daughter in a school in Jaraman, a nearby neighbourhood. A car bomb went off near them and killed them both.”

Islamic rebels are doing all that they can to bring civilian life to a standstill. Fadi said: “Opponents tell schools to close. They want to put an end to normal life. The army is telling people to continue living their life as normal, claiming they are there to protect them. Civilians are caught in the middle and they must obey both if they want to stay alive.”

Another person recounts the following terrible story: “My aunt was a teacher in Homs. She told her pupils to carry on attending school. She wanted life to go on as normal, no matter what. Her husband found her with her throat slit. On the wall, the following message had been written in her blood: “Allah Akbar”. 

At the end of mass, the priest advises faithful in Bad Tuma to leave quietly, in small groups. Groups of more than four people have to split up. “Christians feel they are being targeted. 

On one church wall they wrote: “Christians, it’s your turn”. At the beginning, one of the slogans being shouted out was: 'the Alawites to the graves and the Christians to Beirut”. Now it is: “Alawites and Christians to the cemeteries”.”

In answer to a question about the forces in the field, Fadi’s response was: “many people still support Bashar al-Assad, even though everyone knows what he is capable of. Otherwise he would have fallen long ago. The opposition has become too violent. One day, a Maronite priest who was a known opponent of the regime, went on TV and called for a speeding up of reforms.”

He received death threats from the opposition for not being tough enough. The opposition is very heterogeneous; it is not united; it gives out contradictory messages. It is not easy to see through it. Some say it is only 10% Syrian and that the rest are foreigners, mercenaries and jihadists.”

Fear is everywhere. Theresa, their little girl could hear the gunshots: Fadi and Myriam told her it was a wedding celebration. But one day she said: “This celebration’s scaring me.” And in the end she knew. 

Then the kidnappings started: Qatar, which helps Syria’s jihadists by giving them arms and money, has reduced its assistance and now rebels are kidnapping Christians, Alawites and Druzes and asking for ransom money. 

“Everything is in pieces. All that remains is faith. As is true for the Christians that remain in Syria. We can only hope in God.”