Free Republic

The stories told by five top Syrian Christian leaders about the horrors their churches are experiencing at the hands of Islamic extremists are biblical in their brutality. Bishop Elias Toumeh, representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, tells of the funeral he led ten days ago for the headless body of one of his parishioners in Marmarita. Rev. Adeeb Awad, vice moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, explains how the rebels blew up his church and then pointed the finger at the regime. Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church...

A leading Christian bishop in Syria has welcomed Russia's intervention in the country's civil war, saying the West should follow Vladimir Putin in backing President Bashar al-Assad rather than rebel groups dominated by Islamic extremists. Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart, who is based in the war-ravaged northern city of Aleppo, said Mr Putin's involvement had brought "hope" to many of Syria's Christian minority, who thought it might force the warring sides to the negotiating table. In an interview with The Telegraph during a visit to London, he also urged Britain and America to re-examine their assessment of President Assad, who he claimed...