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Syrian Salafi Jihadist rebels are gaining territory at a breakneck pace, leaving many unanswered questions in their wake about the possibly far-reaching consequences of regime change.
We’ve seen the images before: long lines of ragged, heavily armed, bearded men entering a city whose defenses have seemingly collapsed like a house of cards. It happened in Afghanistan twice, most recently in 2021. It happened in some cities in Iraq in 2014. It is now happening in Syria.
But Syria is not Afghanistan. It is a Mediterranean country, a nation with a Sunni Muslim Arab majority, but important Kurdish and Christian minorities. It is the land of the Street Called Straight; of Ananias, who restored the sight of St. Paul; of St. John of Damascus, the last of the Church Fathers. Five popes were from Byzantine Syria. Damascus was also, for a century, the capital of an Islamic empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
We’ve seen the images before: long lines of ragged, heavily armed, bearded men entering a city whose defenses have seemingly collapsed like a house of cards. It happened in Afghanistan twice, most recently in 2021. It happened in some cities in Iraq in 2014. It is now happening in Syria.
But Syria is not Afghanistan. It is a Mediterranean country, a nation with a Sunni Muslim Arab majority, but important Kurdish and Christian minorities. It is the land of the Street Called Straight; of Ananias, who restored the sight of St. Paul; of St. John of Damascus, the last of the Church Fathers. Five popes were from Byzantine Syria. Damascus was also, for a century, the capital of an Islamic empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia.
Continued below.
For Christians, and for Everyone Else, an Uncharted Future in Syria
COMMENTARY: Syrian Salafi Jihadist rebels are gaining territory at a breakneck pace, leaving many unanswered questions in their wake about the possibly far-reaching consequences of regime change.
