Al-Rahi: Collapse of Syria’s Dictatorship Won’t Affect Christians
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has expressed confidence that Syria’s Christians would not be affected if the regime of President Bashar Assad collapses in the ongoing turmoil in the country.
“The Syrian regime is dictatorial and the Lebanese have suffered from it,” al-Rahi told the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper published on Wednesday.
“Assad’s collapse does not affect at all the presence of Christians in Syria because they support the authorities no matter what they are and are not loyal to political systems,” he said in the interview carried out over the weekend during his visit to the U.S. city of St. Louis.
“As long as they are not involved in politics in Arab countries with one-party systems, a single religion and a single opinion, then we don’t have fear on them,” al-Rahi stressed.
The patriarch said he was not worried over the collapse of the Syrian regime but expressed fears of a civil war in the neighboring country, the division of the state and the advance of extremists to power.
“All Muslim sects are moderates but extremists are unfortunately coming to power with the support of some countries to create instability,” he told his interviewer.
The head of the Maronite church reiterated that the Lebanese should unite under the ceiling of the nation and not their sects.
“There are contradictory regional and international interests, and money and promises are pouring … to create strife,” he warned.
“The problem lies in the lack of loyalty of Lebanese to their state,” al-Rahi said. “Instead they are either loyal to their sects or to a party.”
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