Perspectives   Syria


March 10, 2012 - “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a despot whose shooting and shelling of his own people cannot be defended,” wrote the Catholic Register in a recent editorial, “yet he may be the last line of defence for Syria’s Catholics.”

The editorial captures the paradox of a country where, despite a UN-estimated death toll of 7500 civilians, regime change may be catastrophic for minorities. Syrian Christians look to neighbouring Iraq, where the fall of Saddam Hussein has led to the decimation of the Christian community.

Kris Dmytrenko and his guests Carl Hétu, National Director of CNEWA Canada, and Fr. Estephanos Issa, a Syriac Orthodox priest from Toronto, analyze the situation of the Christians in Syria and other countries affected by the Arab Spring.