A delegation from the non-profit Syrian Christians for Peace embarked 0n a tour of European capitals with the aim of exposing the Assad regime’s exploitation of the Christian minority to cement its rule. The delegation began the tour with a visit to Vienna and is scheduled to visit Paris, Rome, Prague and the Vatican.
The delegation is set to meet heads of churches and governments in order to clarify what is happening in Syria and refute the narrative of the Assad regime.
Coordinator of the tour, Ayman Abdel Nour, told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Modon that the regime is focusing on investing in the ‘protection of minorities’ narrative to whitewash its image in the West, obtain funds, and find loopholes in the economic sanctions imposed on it. He said that for this purpose, the Assad regime is benefiting from the services of international public relations companies.
“We presented a different viewpoint to that presented by the regime, especially with regard to the religious minorities,” Abdel Nour said.
Abdel Nour added that the delegation highlighted the suffering Christians in Syria are going through as a result of the Assad regime. He cited the decline in the population of the minorities’ who are leaving in Syria to escape the Assad regime’s brutality, as is the case with the rest of the Syrian people.
Many rights groups indicated that not only Christians were affected by the Assad regime’s brutality over the past years, but also their places of worship and churches which were bombed by Assad’s forces throughout the Syrian territory.
In 2014, the Syrian Network for Human Rights indicated that Assad regime forces directly targeted 46 churches across Syria with bombardment, most notably Saint Mary of the Holy Belt Cathedral in Homs city, St. Thecla Cathedral in Darayya, and Our Lady of Peace Church – Virgin in Harasta near Damascus.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
