Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Caritas Lebanon reports that refugees are continuing to arrive from Syria as more Christians and Alawite Muslims fear they could become targets of Sunni Islamic militants who want to avenge the Houla massacre. On May 25-26 an attack alleged to have been committed by Syrian army forces and militia-supporters left about 108 people dead in Houla, including 49 children and 34 women. A Greek Syrian Catholic said that he left his village because of fighting between the army and rebels but especially because of a plague of kidnappings of Christians. Refugees said if other massacres happen, “Christians may pay a high price.” One Syrian priest said, “Everyone is afraid.... We don’t know what the future holds.” Muslim fundamentalists could take advantage of a regime change in Syria, he said, adding that the best way to deter extremism is for all citizens to work together. “Right now people think that if ‘they’ win, then ‘I’ lose. But we all can lose. We need to rebuild together,” he said.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, by J.D. Long García
J.D. Long GarcíaJanuary 31, 2025
A timeline of the Vatican’s decade-long history of leadership in the field of A.I. ethics—a history that has earned it significant influence among tech leaders, particularly at Microsoft and IBM
Colleen DulleJanuary 31, 2025
A man carries a bag of wheat supplied by Catholic Relief Services and USAID for emergency food assistance in a village near Shashemane, Ethiopia, in this 2016 photo. (CNS Photo/Nancy McNally, Catholic Relief Services)
Most humanitarian agencies operate just ahead of insolvency in the best of times, Nate Radomski, the executive director of American Jesuits International, says.
Kevin ClarkeJanuary 31, 2025
Peter Sarsgaard, left, as Roone Arledge in ‘September 5’ (Paramount Pictures)
“September 5,” a claustrophobic chronicle of the ABC sports journalists who brought the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack to 900 million viewers, is a story of confidence and failure.
Ryan Di CorpoJanuary 31, 2025