Syrian Christians Pack Passports Fearing Islamist Onslaught

[Purveyor]

By Donna Abu-Nasr - Sep 10, 2013

Syrian businessman Gaby Nakazy keeps the family’s passports and children’s school reports in a bag in the basement of his clothes factory in Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus.

If Islamist rebels exploit a U.S. attack to advance into their neighborhood, Nakazy will grab the bag and join the 1.2 million Syrians who have fled to Lebanon. At least 450,000 of Syria’s 2 million Christians have been displaced, Gregorios III, Patriarch of the Church of Antioch, said last week.

“We’re worried that the fighters would take advantage of any confusion,” Nakazy, 56, said by phone from Jaramana.

As U.S. Congress debates a possible strike against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Christians in and around Damascus say they face a double crisis. Like many other Damascenes, they fear an attack would lead to an escalation in the civil war rather than put an end to it, while they are also concerned about becoming a lightning rod for Muslim radicals.

“Any large-scale rebel offensive in the wake of a U.S.-led campaign could leave the capital’s Christian community vulnerable to attacks from Islamist rebel groups at the extreme end of the spectrum,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst for the region at Maplecroft, a U.K.-based risk consultant.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-09/passports-packed-as-syria-s-christians-fear-islamist-onslaught.html

[madrchsod]

1. i`d get out too

there`s no guarantee that they will be safe when this all comes down.

[David__77]

2. Yet another reason why the US shouldn't go to war for al Qaeda.

And that's what it would be doing.