Syrian Christians keep uneasy alliance with Assad

Hani Sarhan is a Christian who says none of his relatives works for Bashar Assad’s regime or has anything to do with it. “But what we heard from [the protesters] at the beginning of this revolution—‘Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the coffin’—started us thinking about the real aim of this revolution,” he said. “So from this point of view, fearing for my life, I declared my support for President Assad.”

Muslims dominate this nation of 22 million people, but Christians can be found at all levels of Syrian government, business and military. The 2 million Christians in Damascus and elsewhere in Syria trace their roots to ancient communities that survived under many rulers, even as Christian enclaves withered in other Arab nations, such as Saudi Arabia.

The rebellion of hundreds of thousands of Muslims against Assad that began in March 2011 has not seen Christians abandon their support for the Alawites, the Muslim sect to which Assad belongs and that has controlled Syria for decades.