Syrian Christians Say ‘Arab Spring’ Changes Could Hasten Extinction

Hundreds of thousands have fled to Syria, where minority Alawites, a Shiite Muslim sect, have ruled over the Sunni Muslim majority since President Bashar al-Assad’s father took power in 1970. Photographer: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

As the Arab Spring protests reach Damascus, Syrian Christians look warily at a future without a time-tested autocrat to protect them from religious intolerance.

In Egypt, sectarian violence, an intermittent problem in the past, flared anew since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak in February. Twelve people were killed, hundreds injured and a church was torched last week in clashes between Copts and Muslims in Cairo. Christians and secular-leaning Muslims placed blame on Salafis, who advocate a return to the practices of Islam’s earliest years.

In Iraq, where elections followed the U.S.-led invasion, Christians also have come under attack. Hundreds of thousands have fled to Syria, where minority Alawites, a Shiite Muslim sect, have ruled over the Sunni Muslim majority since President Bashar al-Assad’s father took power in 1970. They also found havens in Jordan and Lebanon. 

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