Islamist rebels warns Christians in Syria : Islamic rebels in Syriarequires that two Christian cities throws out the re ... http:// bit.ly/Y0ymPq
7:48 PM - 22 Dec 12 · Details
Islamist rebels warns Christians in Syria
Islamist insurgents in Syria requires that two Christian cities throw out regime forces residing there.
NTB
Published: Updated:
In a video warns members of Ansar Brigade residents of the two towns Mharda and Sqilbiya towards to house soldiers from Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The two cities located in central Hama province in the country, and Islamist insurgents also requires that the Christian inhabitants persuades regime soldiers not to attack cities that are in the rebels' hands.
- If not, we will immediately attack the hideouts of Assad forces and Shabiha, says Rashid Abul-Fida, head of Ansar Brigade in Hama province.
Shabiha the paramilitary groups that are subject Assad regime.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Sohra) had both Mharda and Sqilbiya tens of thousands of citizens before the Civil War broke out 21 months ago, but most have now fled.
Sohren, an opposition activist group based in London, said that while about 60 people were killed in combat Saturday. At least 30 were civilians and 19 were regime soldiers and 15 rebels.
Five people were killed and dozens were wounded when a car bomb went off in Qaboon district northeast of Damascus.
- Christians are not particularly prone
The new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Yuhanna X, urging both sides to the conflict to lay down their weapons and open dialogue. The patriarch also called on all Christians to remain in Syria.
- We are Christians, and we will be here. We believe that Christ is always present in this region, where Christianity was born, said Yuhanna X.
There are about 1.8 million Christians in Syria, but the patriarch denies minorities are particularly vulnerable.
- What is happening to us is happening to others. We are in the same situation as everyone else. Christians and Muslims are going through hard times side by side, he said.
Most Christians have adopted a neutral stance in the Civil War. Some, however, has gone into the Assad regime's side for fear of a more Islamist rule if President Assad should fall.
UN: Religious conflict characterized
Earlier in the week claimed investigators from the UN that the conflict has had a "particular religious character." The Syrian National Council (SNC) rejected UN investigators Saturday.
- Revolution is neither religious or bloody. The only distinction in the Syrian society is between a vicious, repressive regime and a people who ask for freedom and equality, according to a statement from the SNC.
UN says on its site that several Islamist groups now operate independently of the largest rebel group in the ground inside Syria, the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Russia: No winner
Russia, which are among the few great powers who have not turned their backs President Assad, said Saturday that neither side can win the civil war in Syria.
- Nobody is going to win this war, beating Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stuck on the way from Brussels to Moscow Saturday.
He denied enough away that Russia supports Assad regime directly and also claimed that the beleaguered president anyway not going to listen to Moscow.
- Assad is not going to go anywhere, no matter what Russia or China had to say to him, said Lavrov. (© NTB)
