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6 major players who turned Syria into a proxy war nightmare
Irish Nobel Laureate: Syria Is under Proxy War Led by Foreign Countries
“Enough with the intervention,” Patriarch Gregory III, who heads Syria’s Damascus-based Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, told the Catholic News Service (CNS). “It is fueling hatred, fueling criminality, fueling inhumanity, fueling fundamentalism, terrorism — all these things are the fruit of intervention. Enough!”
Syria’s Christians have found themselves under assault by the U.S. and European-backed Free Syrian Army since Syria’s civil war broke out in March 2011 and from the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra. Christian villages have been wiped out, and the rebels have confiscated Christian land. Churches around Homs and Aleppo have been destroyed.
On May 27, the Free Syrian Army raided the Christian village of al-Duvair in Syria’s western province of Homs, massacring most of the village’s Christian population. The peril faced by Christians was highlighted this spring when the Syrian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox archbishops of Aleppo were kidnapped. Their fates remain unknown; however, rumors suggest they may have been murdered.
All of these atrocities against Syria’s Christians raise the specter of a repeat of what happened in Kosovo in the 1990s after Western troops intervened, and Albanian Islamic extremists ethnically cleansed the Christian population.
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Saving Syria’s Cultural Heritage – IIP Digital
Cultural Heritage Sites of Syria – World Monuments Fund
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Arts + Culture: The Destruction of al-Agha Restaurant
Syria: Cultural Heritage Sites at Risk
The Other Toll in Syria: Cultural Gems Stolen or Looted
Syria’s Cultural Heritage in Danger
Dossier Heritage Syria – Culture in Development
Syria’s ancient heritage in danger – France 24
Syria’s Cultural Heritage: Another Casualty of War
Heritage-and-the-Syrian-crisis – Al-Ahram Weekly
Syria’s cultural heritage being looted, destroyed: UNESCO
UNESCO chief “shocked” at destruction to cultural heritage in Syria
“Stop the destruction!” urges UNESCO Director-General
Syria’s cultural heritage being looted, destroyed: UNESCO
UNESCO chief appeals to parties in Syria to stop destruction of cultural heritage
What Do Syria’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction Have To Do With Syria’s Art? More Than You Might Think
List of heritage sites damaged during Syrian civil war – Wikipedia
“Stop the destruction of Syrian cultural heritage!” urges UNESCO Director-General
In today’s interconnected world, culture’s power to transform societies is clear. Its diverse manifestations – from our cherished historic monuments and museums to traditional practices and contemporary art forms – enrich our everyday lives in countless ways.
Heritage constitutes a source of identity and cohesion for communities disrupted by bewildering change and economic instability. Creativity contributes to building open, inclusive and pluralistic societies. Both heritage and creativity lay the foundations for vibrant, innovative and prosperous knowledge societies.
The Hurrians were the indigenous people in Syria, then came the Semites, including the Eblaites, Amorites, Arameans etc. Over four millennia, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman influences crossed paths in Syria. Today, precious cultural sites from these eras are being damaged as the Syrian civil war takes its toll on the country’s cultural heritage.
Over the course of the civil war, cultural sites have been used as strategic bases, including the Citadel of Aleppo, a fortress on a hill towering above the old city. The Seleucid Empire, a dynasty that followed Alexander the Great, erected the fortress in the 4th century B.C. Greeks, Romans, Persians, Byzantines and Ottomans have also built edifices on the hill.
The old town of Damascus, inhabited for the last 4,000 years, was also named on the UNESCO list. Before the start of the uprising against the Assad regime, the old town with its markets, restaurants, churches and mosques was one of Syria’s main attractions. Bombs exploded here in June, the first time the area was part of a larger attack.
The Krak des Chevaliers, a well-preserved Crusader castle in the Homs Gap, is also in the middle of the war zone. Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem first reached the castle in 1099. The castle’s current state is contested. According to the rebels, it was bombed by the Syrian Air Force. The Free Syrian Army may be using the castle as a base.
UNESCO has trained experts to prevent the destruction and looting of Syria’s cultural heritage. On August 29, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova and UN representative Lakhdar Brahimi introduced protective measures. The experts are attempting to keep track of Syria’s stolen cultural heritage, alerting customs officials and art dealers to prevent illegal international trade.
Russia’s concern for the welfare of Syria’s Christians has factored into its calculus for supporting Bashar Assad’s regime.
“[I]n those places where the authorities are being replaced by rebel groups, Christianity is being exterminated to the last man: Christians are expelled or physically destroyed,” Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow spokesman Metropolitan Hilarion told the U.K. –based Christian Voice.
They could face an even worse fate should Assad fall, reminiscent of Iraq’s ancient Christian population in the wake of the U.S. invasion in 2003.
“The policy that is used today in Syria, under the excuse of getting rid of the regime, is very dangerous,” Yonadam Kanna, member of the Iraqi National Assembly and secretary general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement told Christian Today in June. “If the state collapses, then the jihadists are in power. If the jihadists are in power, it’s a huge risk, not only for Christians, but also Muslims of that region — not only in Syria, but in the rest of Middle East and then Europe, too.”
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