OPINION:
“Christians in Syria fear what’s next after latest waves of violence” (Web, March 18) describes Syria — founded as a Christian nation and the first province of Byzantium to fall to Muslim armies in the 7th century — as “having traded one oppressor for another.” But Many Syrian Christians, overwhelmingly Orthodox, have already fled the country — not because of the Assad dictatorship, but because of the actions of the Islamic State/Al Qaeda coalition.
The article notes that Christians are the target of the current Syrian government. But we must keep in mind that whatever his faults, the now-deposed Bashar Assad was not seeking to rid Syria of Christians, many of whom are descendants of Biblical Christianity. Five Italian Carmelite (Catholic) nuns even opened a convent in Aleppo during the civil war. The Assad government, the Mother Superior said, “was the most Christian-tolerant country of any other country in the Middle East.” I do not know the order’s current whereabouts.
Assad, whose regime was supported by Iran, was no ally of the West, but he was no ally of the Sunni governments that surrounded Syria, either. It should also come as no surprise that he is currently living in Russia. During the Syrian civil war, Vladimir Putin claimed he would protect Syrian Christians and allow them, if they chose, to come to Russia. The course of events expanded that invitation to now include an Alewite Muslim.
VINCENT CHIARELLO
Reston, Virginia
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