Assad Is Not a Protector of the Church (Washington Institute)

[TomSea]

Assad Is Not a Protector of the Church
By John Saleh

The hate speech of groups that play on religious sentiments, poverty, and need has become a real threat not only to the region but also to European and American cities. In the age of the internet, ISIS’s gelatinous ideas are able to penetrate the minds of young people regardless of location–motivating them to adopt radical thinking and to perpetrate the most horrendous crimes. Nevertheless, the peoples of the region face a grim selection of governance alternatives, not least where ISIS gained its largest foothold—Syria.

As a young woman who belongs to a Syrian minority group—a Syriac group with an independent language, religion, and culture—I ended up as part of a community of displaced persons when ISIS invaded northern Syria. We were forced to vacate our land for fear of killing and persecution. These fears were realized when ISIS abducted over 220 Syriac-Assyrians, especially girls, from my region of northeastern Al-Hasaka,.. Assad's soldiers were only a few kilometers from the scene; they did nothing to help these girls. This was just one instance of the regime’s intentional neglect of terrorism—the expansion of ISIS was the fundamental pretext upholding the Assad regime. Only while the ISIS threat existed could Assad claim he protected against it.

However, it is imperative to remember that there are alternative ways of living. After detention in Assad’s prisons, I escaped and traveled to a number of Western cities, finally arriving in America. And despite living in a number of different locations, I attach a distinct status to the United States. I believe in America’s ideals—being here has given me hope for humanity. I have a new life here, where I can experience equality, freedom, and individuality in ways that were impossible in Syria. There, my potential would have been lost. This reality motivates me to reflect on the fate of those I left behind, especially given my current knowledge of the magnitude of American influence on the region and its potential to encourage the true American values of tolerance and diversity.

Read more at: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/islamic-state-came-from-his-country-yet-he-is-always-referred-to-as-protect

Posting does not equal endorsement, I did find this and other articles at this thinktank to be of interest.

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/  If one really feels the need to read up on this, they have a number of articles on various topics.

We've had discussions on twitter about how vile it is, but, there are also experts who highlight articles to read... not the usual news from CNN, FOX, NY Times and so on.

[Smokin Joe]

Only while the ISIS threat existed could Assad claim he protected against it.

Remember the principle involved here.
Without the threat/problem, those who claim to protect against it or have the solution have no political traction.

[Now, tell me again why our Government continually fails to address and even solve the most basic of problems.
The ultimate goal of any troubleshooter, protector, or problem solver should be to be so good they have nothing left to do.]

As for Assad, there will always be the political questions. Not to defend him, but he may have viewed ISIS as just another of the tribal and cultural factions which vie for power and control within the country, or sought to let them do damage in order to foster factional unity against a common threat. I do not believe Assad is a 'friend' to any one specific religion, but more calculatingly interested in maintaining political power.

Regardless of Assad's motive, it is good this one person escaped, and interesting to read her insight.

[Fishrrman]

I would not trust ANY muslim anywhere to be a "protector of the church", or of Christians...

[The_Reader_David]

Not going out of one's way to protect civilians from enemy action in the context of a battle does not constitute proof of anything other the bare fact one didn't do it.  We don't know what the tactical situation was.

Assad, thug though he is, is objectively the protector of Christians, or at least Orthodox Christians in Syria.  He's a Ba'athist, an adherent of the secular pan-Arab nationalist fascist ideology, and himself a member of a religious minority that the Sunni majority in Syria might kill with even more enthusiasm than they'd kill Christians, the Alawites, nominally a sect of Shia Islam, though with lots of oddities about their practice that suggest their forebearers may have been crypto-Christians.  Christians worship freely in government controlled areas, and are not subject to religious persecution, except by opponents of the regime.  It shouldn't be that surprising, seeing that one of Assad's main backers is Russia.