By KAPIL KOMIREDDI
Published: August 3, 2012
DAMASCUS թ§Չ-Չ The day begins here with the call to prayer and ends with the roar of gunfire. Syriaթ§Չ-Չ§s pluralistic society, which once rose above sectarian identity in a region often characterized by a homicidal assertion of religious belief, is now faced with civil disintegration and ethnic cleansing.
In Bab Touma, the Christian quarter of the old city, the magnificently restored Ottoman mansions housing many of the hotels that only two years ago overflowed with Western tourists have become temporary sanctuaries for Syrian minorities fleeing their homes and cities.
A Christian doctor of Palestinian origin huddling with his family of four in a small room in one of the hotels was looking for a way out of the country: թ§Չ-ժMy father came to Syria as a refugee,թ§Չ-Թ he told me. թ§Չ-ժI made it my home. Now I am having to uproot my two young sons.թ§Չ-Թ
His home, in Midan in southern Damascus, came under attack during an intense battle last week between the opposition Free Syrian Army and government forces. Midan is now officially a safe area, but hardly anyone believes that peace will endure.
Syriaթ§Չ-Չ§s 2.3 million Christians, constituting about 10 percent of the countryթ§Չ-Չ§s population, have generally known a more privileged existence under the Assad dynasty than even the Shiite Alawi sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Yet their allegiance to Assad was never absolute. Some Christians openly clamored for political change in the early months of the anti-government uprising. But as the rebellion became suffused with Sunni militants sympathetic to or affiliated with Al Qaeda, Christians recoiled.
A churchgoing Syrian told me that he used to see himself primarily as թ§Չ-ժSyrianթ§Չ-Թ and that religious identity, in political terms, was an idea that never occurred to him թ§Չ-Չ until an opposition gang attacked his family earlier this year in Homs. թ§Չ-ժItթ§Չ-Չ§s a label they pinned on us,թ§Չ-Թ he said. թ§Չ-ժIf their revolution is for everyone, as they keep insisting it is, why are Christians being targeted? It is because what they are waging is not a struggle for freedom, and itթ§Չ-Չ§s certainly not for everyone.թ§Չ-Թ
As Saudi Arabian arms and money bolster the opposition, the 80,000 Christians whoթ§Չ-Չ§ve been թ§Չ-ժcleansedթ§Չ-Թ from their homes in Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan in Homs Province in March by the Free Syrian Army have gradually given up the prospect of ever returning home.
The rebelsթ§Չ-Չ§ conduct has prompted at least some Sunnis who had supported the rebels and once-wavering Syrians to pledge renewed loyalty to Assad. Many who once regarded the regime as a kleptocracy now view it as the best guarantor of Syriaթ§Չ-Չ§s endangered pluralism.
A Sunni shopkeeper in the impoverished suburb of Set Zaynab, which was partly destroyed in the clashes last week, no longer supports the rebellion. թ§Չ-ժI wanted Assad to go because he is corrupt,թ§Չ-Թ he said. թ§Չ-ժBut what happened here, what they did, it scared me. It made me angry. I cannot support the murder of my neighbors in the name of change. You cannot bring democracy by killing innocent people or by burning the shrines of Shiites. Syrians donթ§Չ-Չ§t do that. This is the work of the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia,թ§Չ-Թ he added, referring to the ultra conservative Sunni sect.
Repeated attempts by Free Syrian Army fighters to destroy a shrine to Sayyida Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad revered by Shiites, have not yet caused the areaթ§Չ-Չ§s Sunni minority to flee թ§Չ-Չ many Shiites here have refused to blame their Sunni neighbors for the rebelsթ§Չ-Չ§ crimes.
Over the past week, more than a dozen Syrians թ§Չ-Չ chiefly Alawi and Christian, but also a handful of Sunnis թ§Չ-Չ affirmed to me their determination to pick up arms to defend Assad.
The seeming indifference of the international community to the worsening condition of Syriaթ§Չ-Չ§s religious minorities թ§Չ-Չ and the near total absence of censure of the opposition forces by the Western governments arrayed against Assad թ§Չ-Չ is breeding a bitter anti-Americanism among many secular Syrians who see the United States aligning itself with Saudi Arabia, the fount of Wahhabism, against the Arab worldթ§Չ-Չ§s most resolutely secular state.
Fresh from abetting the suppression of a pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain, Saudi Arabiaթ§Չ-Չ§s intervention in Syria is part of its effort to attenuate Iranթ§Չ-Չ§s influence and cripple what it fears is a growing Shiite corridor of power in the Middle East.
Most Syrians, regardless of their faith, want the power to change their government. But the armed groups that have seized control of the rebellion, now contaminated with Al Qaeda fighters and corrupted by Saudi money, have repelled many people.
A year and a half after the insurrection began, Assadթ§Չ-Չ§s forces are exhausted and dispirited թ§Չ-Չ but there is no sign yet of a simultaneous mass uprising in any of the major cities. Instead, rebel fighters on Saudi payroll launch coordinated attacks on high-value targets, the Syrian Army retaliates with disproportionate force, and videos of the ensuing devastation are posted on the Internet.
Proponents of a peaceful political solution, like the signatories to the so-called Santթ§Չ-Չ§Egidio appeal last week in Italy, have been eclipsed by sectarian leaders of the Syrian National Council urging the international community to give them anti-aircraft weapons.
Washington is aware of the scale of the problem. As early as June 2011, Robert Stephen Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, briefed his counterparts in Damascus about Al Qaedaթ§Չ-Չ§s penetration of the opposition forces. By still ploughing ahead with its support for Saudi Arabiaթ§Չ-Չ§s effort to destabilize Syria, Washington, far from assisting Israel or weakening Iran, is helping to fuel a humanitarian crisis that will come back to haunt the United States.
Kapil Komireddi, an Indian journalist, has written from South Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
www.nytimes.com
Be the first to comment