A question that ought to be asked in Congress and in pulpits across the USA:
"Why does America want all of the Christians out of the Middle East?”
--Hussam Azar, Syrian Christian leader
The Convent of Our Lady of Sednaya, one of the most venerated sites in the Orthodox Christian world, has recently been under mortar attack from US-backed Syrian rebels.
The US invasion of Iraq led to the persecution, murder and extrusion of a considerable segment of Iraq’s Christian population. Coincidence?
"The Christians of Sednaya, Syria are only too aware of what happened to the ancient Christian community of neighboring Iraq, where, after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Islamic militants unleashed a reign of terror against Christians, bombing churches, burning shops and assassinating community leaders. Much of Iraq's Christian population fled, many to Syria..."
Now the US is arming and training Sunni rebels in Syria who despise Christians and Christianity. Coincidence?
A rebel overthrow of the Syrian government will lead to the murder and extrusion of the Christian population of Syria.
The Sunni rebel threat to the existence of Syria’s Christians does not appear to be much of a hot-button issue for well-fed and cozy Protestants and Catholics in America, or their “Christian” representatives in Congress. The corporate media have paid little attention (with a few honorable exceptions such as the report below by Patrick J. McDonnell). After all, the Syrians, in the eyes of “our” media are only goyim, destined, thanks to American taxpayers, to trod the path of extinction, as in Iraq. If this was a Judaic population threatened by Sunni Muslims, the hue and cry would resound throughout America. Why do we do little or nothing to save the lives of our brothers and sisters in Syria and the landmarks of our Faith in one of the oldest Christian nations on earth? — Michael Hoffman
Two Syria shrine towns: Worlds apart yet united in battle
By Patrick J. McDonnell
(Excerpt) Los Angeles Times • June 29, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-sednaya-20130630,0,3733445,full.story
And both are fighting back.
Here in Sednaya, a cadre of Christian militiamen armed with AK-47 rifles and other weapons staff checkpoints and closely scrutinize everyone who comes and goes, day and night, coordinating closely with the Syrian military. The militia chief is a burly pizza shop owner who goes by the moniker "the Whale.”
About 12 miles away, on the southeast fringes of the capital, Shiite militiamen, including a contingent of fighters from the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement, head the defense of the golden-domed shrine said to house the remains of a granddaughter of the prophet Muhammad. "We will forfeit our blood and lives for Sayyida Zainab," says a brown-uniformed volunteer manning the checkpoint leading to the mausoleum, one of the most revered sites in the Shiite world. From their bases in Turkey and Egypt, representatives of the U.S.-backed opposition coalition frequently proclaim that the mostly Sunni rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad do not target Syria's Christian and Shiite minorities or their religious symbols. Several Christians are prominent in the exile-based leadership.
But reports of rebel sectarian onslaughts are mounting. According to both pro-opposition and government reports, rebels this month targeted an isolated Shiite community in the eastern Syrian town of Hatla, where dozens of civilians were reported killed, their homes burned and a Shiite shrine destroyed. Near Sednaya, in the insurgent stronghold of Adra, rebels this year dug up the remains of a revered Shiite figure, Hujr ibn Adi, a companion of Muhammad, and destroyed his shrine, long a pilgrimage site. The desecration unleashed a furor in Shiite communities across the globe.
In Qusair, the Roman Catholic Church of St. Elias was defaced during a more than yearlong rebel occupation of the town near the Lebanese border. During a recent visit, a reporter saw vandalized images of saints and Christ and graffiti scrawled on church walls berating "infidels.”
Residents of minority communities, such as the Christians of Sednaya, predict that eviction or death will be their fate if they do not resist now. They don't buy the talk about democracy coming from Washington and other foreign capitals that support the rebels. "If the terrorists come here, none of us will be left alive," says Hussam Azar, a.k.a. the Whale, who heads the self-defense effort here. "They will kill us all."
An epidemic of kidnappings has already traumatized Syria's Christian community, which is less than 10% of the population. Two Christian bishops remain missing since being abducted in April while driving in rebel territory near Aleppo. Last week, a Catholic priest, Francois Murad, was slain in northern Syria when Islamic militants attacked the monastery where he was staying, according to Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news agency.
Though the opposition demonizes Assad as a killer, residents here and in other minority communities often view the embattled president and his army — complemented by a growing contingent of loyalist militiamen — as the last bulwark preventing so-called sectarian cleansing.
The Christians of Sednaya are only too aware of what happened to the ancient Christian community of neighboring Iraq, where, after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Islamic militants unleashed a reign of terror against Christians, bombing churches, burning shops and assassinating community leaders. Much of Iraq's Christian population fled, many to Syria, then still a beacon of stability and relative religious tolerance.
"The Christians of Iraq ran away," says Azar, sipping espresso in his restaurant. "But Syria's Christians are not running away anywhere. We are fighting.”
Up the hill from the town sits the sublime Byzantine-era Convent of Our Lady of Sednaya, one of the most venerated sites in the Orthodox world, a historic pilgrimage site for solitary monks...Before the warfare, Christians and Muslims alike regularly arrived on bus tours to visit the convent, credited in Orthodox tradition with providing miraculous healing. In an inner sanctum where the walls are covered with images of Christ, Mary and saints, is stored an icon of the Holy Mother and child that is said to safeguard the convent. "We have survived many wars," says a black-robed nun showing now-rare visitors around the hushed corridors. "God protects us."
...Residents say Sednaya has often been targeted by rebel mortars from nearby villages, occasionally causing casualties. In one instance, residents say, a rebel mortar shell hit the wall of the convent but failed to explode, leaving only a small hole. Residents say the mortar attacks and abductions triggered the formation of a self-defense force, which has received weapons and training from the Syrian military, like similar loyalist militias elsewhere in Syria. Militiamen also vow to protect the convent. Many Syrian Christians here and elsewhere in the country are perplexed that the West has taken the side of the rebels, a position that has prompted no end of conspiracy theories in a nation steeped in dark speculation about the motivations of outside powers.
"I have a question for you," Azar asks a visiting U.S. reporter. "Why does America want all the Christians out of the Middle East?”
(End quote; emphasis supplied; read more at the Los Angeles Times).
patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com
Special correspondent Nabih Bulos contributed to this report.
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