What’s really going on in Syria? Our feckless mainstream media either ignores the ongoing conflict or distorts the facts – usually painting President Bashar al-Assad as the bad guy and the “rebels” as “freedom fighters” – so it’s difficult to know the truth.
 
For a realistic assessment Michele Antaki, writing at the American Thinker, recently talked with a Syrian doctor who, rather that flee the chaos, has chosen to stay and do what he can to care for his fellow countrymen. Dr. Nabil Antaki (related to the article’s author?) is a member of a small, homegrown Christian charity – ‘Aleppo’s Blue Marists.’
The group provides housing, food, educational and recreational activities to Syrians of all denominations who are displaced within their own country.
 
Antaki said that much of the confusion about the civil war in his country can be attributed to the main source of the western media’s information ~

… the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights [SOHR] — actually a one-man show. Despite its credible name, it is in fact a disinformation outlet financed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

 
So that explains a lot. Further complicating matters is the involvement of Doctors Without Borders [Médecins Sans Frontières – MSF] – Or as Alan Dershowitz dubbed them last year “Doctors Without Morals”.

According to Antaki MSF’s reports are totally biased ~

“They only report on the suffering in one part of town, the part held by rebels, never in the part under government control. Large hospitals in the western part of Aleppo were destroyed by terrorists, yet never mentioned by Doctors Without Borders.
 
For example, in December 2013, the destruction of Al-Kindi hospital by shelling, then arson, at the hands of Al-Nusra Front, never made headlines in the corporate media. The focus is on the destruction of hospitals allegedly located in the rebel zone and whose numbers fluctuate according to the needs of the propaganda war, or which only exist in MSF’s imagination. Likewise, casualties among civilians living in the western district of Aleppo (the government-held area) have never interested those NGOs (non-governmental-organizations).

 
Western news reports have talked about Aleppo being under siege. But by whom? Who are the besieged? Which side are we supposed to support? Antaki helps sort it all out ~

Aleppo is divided into two parts. The eastern part with 250,000 inhabitants at most, is in the hands of ‘rebels’/ terrorist armed groups, who keep them hostage, while the western part with 1.5 to 2 million ihabitants, is under the control of the Syrian state.

“In western Aleppo, we are bombarded daily by the ‘rebels’ and many hospitals have been destroyed, burned down or damaged by them without anybody mentioning it. To understand the situation, one also has to know that Doctors Without Borders is a totally misguided NGO that sided as of 2011 with armed groups the likes of Al-Nosra. Several of these large NGOs like Doctors Without Borders or the White Helmets are sponsored and financed by EU governments. They illegally enter Syria and then only go to areas where the ‘rebels’ have embedded themselves. Meanwhile, you have more than 8 million Syrians who have fled towards areas under the Assad government’s control — because Syrians in their vast majority remained attached to their government and regrouped in provinces under its protection — and they are attacked by those ‘rebels’ daily without receiving any attention, as I said. It is therefore important to stress that by acting on Syrian soil without the agreement of the government and in total violation of Syrian sovereignty, Doctors without Borders are, in the eyes of the Syrian people, complicit in the terror committed by those armed groups.”

 
How many times have you heard that on the network news? Exactly zero.

 
Dr. Antaki spoke candidly about the current war-torn state of Syria and how it all began ~

“Ever since 2011, Syrians have known that what was taking place on their soil was not a revolution to bring more democracy and respect for human rights, or less corruption. They knew from the start that the ‘Arab Spring’ was another name for Condoleezza Rice’s ‘Constructive Chaos’ or for the Bush Administration’s ‘New Middle East,’ and that the so-called ‘Spring’ was a misnomer that would either lead to the destruction of Syria, or to its falling under an Islamic State’s rule. Unfortunately, these two projects may well be on the way to succeeding.”

 
Dr. Antaki is mostly neutral on Bashar al-Assad but does acknowledge that under the president Syria remained a secular state, protecting the rights of all faiths and minorities. Clearly Christians have a much better chance of surviving under him than ISIS. That’s exactly why those Christians in the areas under government (Assad) forces are still relatively safe.

 
Despite the turmoil, or perhaps because of it, in some cases the gospel is flourishing ~ Aleppo churches open doors to displaced Muslim families. This article from World Watch Monitor features 28-year-old, Syrian mother Kristina, a Christian of Armenian descent, who is waiting out the war in Lebanon ~

With the violence continuing and worsening, gradually more Christians left Aleppo. In Kristina’s church, now only 10 per cent of the regular church-goers are left, she hears from friends.
 
“But you know what’s surprising? The church is still full; displaced people take their place. Especially Muslims are coming to the church now,” she says.
 
In Syria, the Christian children’s activities draw the most attention, Kristina says. A lot of Syrians from other parts of Aleppo – the fighting is heaviest in Muslim areas – have fled to the Christian areas to seek refuge. For many Muslims, it is the first time they have mixed with Christians.
 
“Many Muslims were genuinely surprised when they met Christian women in our churches willing to serve them. Their image was that all Christian women spend most of their days dancing in night clubs and drinking alcohol! Meeting each other was a shock, both for them and for us,” says Kristina.
 
Kristina also says the Muslim women were surprised to see that churches offered support and programmes for all Syrians, not just for Christians.
 
“Their mosques don’t do that,” Kristina says. “Many are re-thinking the faith they grew up in and have dropped their hostility towards Christians.” […]
 
Despite the war, Kristina speaks of a “golden age” for the Church in the Middle East.
 
“For the first time in history, Muslims are coming to us. The only thing we have to do is tell them the good news; they are waiting for it,” she says. “They realise that, when living in a Christian environment, the [Christian message] will be shared. They may even see it as a sign of weakness if it isn’t.”

 
This small but tenacious rekindling of the Church reminds me of something I recently read from Ravi Zacharias ~ The Bird Still Sings: Why Christianity Cannot Be Silenced. While the west has somehow decided we no longer need God – “We in America have evicted Christian values and beliefs” – the Holy Spirit is stirring hearts in more fertile ground around the globe; China, Africa, even in the Middle East ~

I have had sheiks and mullahs tell me, “Please don’t stop coming; we need you here. We need Christians here.” Those were the very words to me a few years ago from the now assassinated Chief of Intelligence in Syria. He knew the healing balm of Jesus Christ was needed and as we left him, the church leader with me expressed his amazement at hearing such an admission. It just could not be made in public.

 
Pray for the remnant in Syria, and be of good cheer. Zacharias ends his post with these inspiring words ~

The mocker will not have the last laugh. You see, dancing on the grave of an extinguished Christianity is farcical at best. Because the grave is empty. And the one who knows the way out of the grave sits in the heavens and laughs.

 
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Related:

The White Helmets – al Qaeda with a facelift ~ (Video) Mentioned above, this group may wear white hats but that’s just a ruse; they’re definitely not the good guys. Even worse, our tax dollars – to the tune of $23 million (even though the White Hat website specifically says it doesn’t accept any government money) – are going to help fund whatever subterfuge they’re practicing.
 
The ‘people of the cross’ are taking back Iraq ~ Some optimistic reports out of Iraq as well ~

The cross of Jesus is being lifted once more over many parts of Iraq, where for years Islamic State terrorists left a path of death and destruction.
As a military campaign to rid the Mosul area of the Islamic state rages on, videos are surfacing of “the people of the cross” reclaiming their homes by raising makeshift wooden crosses over the churches and towns they were once forced to flee out of fear for their lives.

Despite the risk of persecution… Muslims Turn to Christ in Unprecedented Numbers