If Assad goes, there will be a Christian exodus and genocide —
By Elizabeth Kendal —
(Editor’s note: In my conversation with Elizabeth about this article, she said she is 98% certain the recent chemical attack was not carried out by Assad, but was a false flag operation)
On the night of Thursday 6 April, US President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on Syria’s Shayrat Airbase. Located about 40 km east of the city of Homs, Shayrat is the principal base from where Syrian and Russian forces have been fighting Islamic State in eastern Syria.
While the impact of the 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles appears to have been minimal, the action — which was surely illegal — further complicates an already complicated situation. The missile strike was ordered on the basis of ‘intelligence’ (primarily heart-rending images of children in the village of Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib) provided by Turkey and Saudi-backed, al-Qaeda-led ‘rebels’. [Idlib fell to a coalition of Turkey and Saudi-backed al-Qaeda-led transnational jihadists in March 2015 (see RLPBs 303, 305 and 307 of April 2015)].
Without any independent investigation, the West deemed Assad guilty of launching a chemical attack on civilians, despite the obvious fact that the Syrian government — which was making great gains militarily and politically — had nothing to gain from such a provocation and everything to lose.
On the contrary, the mostly foreign ‘rebels’ — who care little about Syria or Syrians and are on the back foot militarily — had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Meanwhile, according to Homs governor Talal al-Barazi, 14 Syrians were killed in the US attack on the Shayrat airbase, nine of whom were civilians, including women and children.
It should not be forgotten that NATO-member Turkey and US-allied Saudi Arabia and Qatar started the Syrian war when they chose to exploit ‘Arab Spring’ unrest in Syria to pursue regime change in Damascus. The Turkey-Arab Sunni Axis’ aim is to restore Sunni hegemony (as was the situation before WW1) and install a Sunni regime in Damascus more amenable to Sunni interests.
If the US does not step back, the consequences for Christians will be disastrous.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Hezbollah is known to be stockpiling weapons in southern Syria in preparation for a new war with Israel which may well be launched from Syrian territory. In the early hours of 17 March Israeli air-force jets entered Syrian airspace and fired rockets into a convoy understood to be transporting Iranian weapons to Hezbollah’s T-4 military base at Palmyra, drawing fire from Syrian air defences in the process.
This evolving situation is causing a dilemma for Russia, which is allied to Iran and Syria, and to Israel with whom it has pledged co-operation. For Israel the security situation is becoming critical, as the threat posed by Iran-Hezbollah is greater than the threat posed by Islamic State.
The fact we cannot ignore is that if the Syrian government falls jihadists will fill the vacuum, triggering a new exodus and genocide. Western policy is spinning so fast it is dizzying. The only solution I (Elizabeth Kendal) could propose would be an alliance comprising Russia, the Alawites, Israel and the West, committed to keeping the bulk of Mesopotamia (i.e. ‘the Fertile Crescent of minorities’) free from Islamic rule and free from Turkish, Arab or Persian domination. ‘With God, all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26; see also, Luke 1:37).
PLEASE PRAY FOR Syria’s grieving, traumatised and deeply anxious Christians; may God comfort them, supply all their needs and redeem all their suffering. May the Lord intervene in Syria in the interests of the Church, in the interests of Syria.
Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology. She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).
See www.ElizabethKendal.com
