Over the past two years, daily news reports from the Middle East (Egypt and Syria, in particular) have been simultaneously informative, tragic, terrifying and, as befits coverage of politics in that area of the world, deceiving.
At various times, the conflicts have been presented as a continuation of the Arab Spring and a fight for democracy, a military takeover and a straightforward battle between governments and those who would, for good or bad, usurp their powers.
Lost in the majority of media coverage has been the role of religion as a driver and motivator for violence and political control. Even further off the media radar has been the Islamic persecution of Christians in these countries. If mentioned at all, this phenomenon is viewed as 鈥渃ollateral damage鈥� of the war between Muslim factions. But growing evidence suggests there is nothing collateral about it.
Christians, their businesses and places of worship are the victims of targeted attacks by Islamist extremists because of their faith and, so far, not one Western leader has bothered to raise this issue publicly.
Over the past two weeks, there has been a back-and-forth battle for control over the Syrian town of Maaloula, a historic and predominantly Christian village filled with monasteries and Christian shrines. Apparently, the residents still use an Aramaic dialect that was spoken in Biblical times.
The media periodically report when the rebels take over or when Assad鈥檚 soldiers take it back, emphasizing that the town is a popular tourist attraction. But it is the daily battle over Maaloula, not the short-lived victories, that tells the real story.
The most recent rebel takeover started with a suicide bombing and continued as the rebels (associated with al-Qaida) shouted 鈥淎llahu akbar鈥� (鈥淕od is great鈥�) and then attacked Christian homes and robbed and burned churches. Christians were held at gunpoint and threatened with death if they didn鈥檛 convert to Islam. If they rejected the offer, they were beheaded, mutilated or had their throats slit.
Snipers nestled into the cliffs above the town and continue to shoot at anyone who dares leave their home.
This is by no means the full story 鈥� it is only the most recent incident depicting the brutality and targeted attacks of the Syrian rebels on Christians. Other villages and towns have been similarly destroyed and their Christian residents have been subjected to rapes and beheadings. In June 2012, 80,000 Christians were forced from their homes.
In Egypt, it is known that former president Mohammed Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood that is essentially the political wing of a terrorist group associated with Hamas, used his brief reign to sanction terror and persecution against the Christian minorities in Egypt. Torture rooms were established inside the presidential palace and in mosques to torture Christians. In mid-August more than 50 churches were burned to the ground or attacked over a period of several days.
Politics has nothing to do with the assaults on Christians in either country 鈥� it is only the excuse for brutality and targeted killings. IHS Jane鈥檚, a worldwide military consultancy group, recently documented what has long been known: Extremism, not patriotism or nationalism, is increasingly driving the Syrian war. The Assad government is allied with Hezbollah and Shiites in Iran. The rebels are largely Sunni Muslims, supported by jihadists from a number of Sunni nations, such as Saudi Arabia.
Of the estimated 100,000 rebels, about 10,000 are directly linked to al-Qaida and are primarily foreign. Another 30,000 to 35,000 are hard-line jihadists and 30,000 are more moderate Islamists. In other words, there鈥檚 no secular element to this war; it is dominated by jihadists who want to create a hard-line Islamic state.
Every group fighting for power holds to a religious agenda that has radical, anti-Western beliefs. Those who are trying to overthrow the Assad government are hardly mere rebels fighting to improve the lot of the Syrian people.
So why are we in the West so determined to ignore the extremist religious element at the core of Mideast fighting and its clear threat to the Christians who live there? Religion is the driving force in these wars.
If we in the West can鈥檛 acknowledge this and address it in public debate and discussion, we haven鈥檛 evolved much further than the extremists who rely on guns to make political and religious points.
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Susan Martinuk is a freelance writer for the Calgary Herald.
