Syrian Syriac National Council Urges Support of Christians in the Country
Bassam Isaac, the Head of the Syrian Syriac National Council, called on different organizations in Syria to pay attention to the immigration of Christians, and stressed the importance of them remaining in the country.
"Christians in Syria and the Middle East are one of the most ancient peoples in the region. They work to achieve justice and peaceful coexistence. They recognize different religions and ethnic groups. If any government wanted to build a strong state, it should recognize the different religions and ethnic groups that exist in this country," Isaac told Mideast Christian News.
"There are nearly 2.5 million Christians in Syria, affiliated with nine sects. Most of them live in the Syrian governorates of Haska, Homs, Damascus, and Aleppo. We should work together by unifying organizations to plan for their future."
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In addition to the council's call for more protections for Christians in Syria, Jim Wallace, vice president of the Australian Christian Lobby, urged western nations to take decisive action to protect Syria's Christians.
"The hardest test of foreign policy is not its intersections at the lofty geopolitical level, but where it inevitably affects ordinary people, and nowhere is this test as difficult as in the Middle East," Wallace wrote in The Australian on Tuesday.
Wallace explained that after he visited the region to assess the situation facing Syrian minorities it soon became clear to him that the West's policy for the Middle East "courts a disaster."
He added that the region has become satiated with alliances, even among enemies, which further muddles the already "excusable" confusion over Middle Eastern politics that the majority of the Western populace seems to have.
"There are reports of heartbreak as people who lived in harmony for decades are suddenly turned into bitter enemies by the radicalisation of previously moderate Sunnis under the influence of the al-Qa'ida proxy Jabhat al-Nusra," Wallace continued.
"For Christians to be thrown out of Syria after more than 2000 years of history is too much for most. Despite the steady flow of refugees, most will stay. But the cost of staying is extreme," he added.
