“No, Bashar Al Assad is not the shield of Eastern Christians”

In the war that torn Syria for five years, the fate of Eastern Christians was particularly moved the French public.

Hind Kabawat, gives us his view of Syrian Christian and a member of the Syrian opposition. She is a negotiator within the Negotiations Committee Top Syrian opposition and Director of Studies for the construction of peace in interfaith George Mason University (USA).

French solidarity with the Christians of the East has manifested consistently; a real movement has tripped to save them from persecution and death. At the same time, a misunderstanding gradually settled. Faced with the rise of the Islamic State and the presence of armed groups jihadists in Syrian territory, Bashar Al Assad has taken on the role of protector of Eastern Christians. The lyrics grateful Bashar held by the Patriarch of Damascus before a delegation of French parliamentarians have strengthened, for public opinion, the idea that Bashar would be the last defense against flooding of the Islamic state promising certain death to Christians of East.

The reasons supporting Bashar Al Assad

The historical attachment of the French to Eastern Christians has become gradually a reason to support Bashar Al Assad in the Syrian conflict – not by because we ignore or forgive his crimes, but because between two calamities it seems the less formidable – not only for Christians but also for other minorities. Russian support came endorse this view, because Putin also poses as a defender of Christians.
It is on these bases that crystallized part of the French public, including the right of the political spectrum. The axis Christian- Bashar-Putin became the backbone of a geopolitical and cultural reading of the Syrian conflict. Faced with this axis seems to exist only Daech, the Syrian opposition is, as appropriate, ignored or despised.

No, Bashar Al Assad is not the protector of Eastern Christians

As a Christian, Syrian and member of the Syrian opposition today organized by Top negotiations committee, it seems to me essential that this misunderstanding dissipates quickly. No, Bashar Al Assad is not the protector of Eastern Christians. The truth is that it is a master at manipulating the minorities. He locked the Eastern Christians in an untenable alternative: show their support for a regime that many of them hate or be delivered to the bloody madness of jihadist. Repression by Bashar on his people never spared Christians. By releasing terrorists imprisoned so that they go to swell the ranks of Daech Syria, Bashar has polarized the Syrian conflict and imprisoned Christians in unacceptable alternatives.

Many Syrian Christians are opponents of Bashar Al Assad

He has been able to believe Western opinion that his only opposition is Daech and militias who are close. He wiped the western perception yet a clear reality: among supporters of a bloody regime and jihadist-terrorist is a very large segment of the population which asks only to live in a state of law, where practices religious minority would be respected. Like it or not, many Syrian Christians are indeed opponents of Bashar Al Assad and refuse to be held hostage by its propaganda. Western public opinion also can not remain captive to a binary vision of the Syrian conflict. Nor does it protects the Christians, Bashar does not protect the West from Daech. He feeds this hideous beast, makes it grow because it is ultimately the cause.

On the way to democracy?

The decision of Vladimir Putin to remove Russian troops from Syria has surprised everyone. Many thought that the support of Vladimir Putin to the regime of Bashar Al Assad was full and eternal. They were wrong. The trend shows that the situation in Syria is more complex than it appears. It also demonstrates that the Syrian opposition is not a bunch of half-terrorist described the regime but a representative organization that takes its place in the ongoing negotiations in Geneva, and the Russians officially admit. For Eastern Christians, hope is much more in the success of the peace process and in maintaining Bashar. For the first time in years, they see themselves profile the possibility of Syria taking the path of democracy and allowing them to live their identity freely, instead of living under the cruel regime of blackmail or the deadly threat of terrorists.

Eastern Christians need that French public opinion understands that Bashar is not their shield. They need it accompanies in this complex and fragile process, she has confidence in what the Syrians want for themselves instead of locking them into dead ends that are in reality always the same impasse: that of totalitarianism .