01 April 2015, The Tablet

‘Part of the refugee experience is that everything you had is gone’

by Joseph Ataman

 
Half of Syria’s Christians have left the country since the start of the civil war four years ago. Those who have stayed live in fear of the warring forces. Growing numbers are fleeing to Lebanon where aid agencies struggle to care for the growing numbers of refugees The Syrian war is rarely today seen in other than black and black, a bloody struggle between a murderous regime led by President Bashar al-Assad and an opposition increasingly dominated by radical Islamist groups characterised by their boastful disregard for basic humanity. Sami (not his real name) is an activist from the Christian community in a government-controlled quarter of Damascus. He elected to stay when the war broke out in 2011 and four years on he is still there. But the mood there has changed decisively. &ld
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