BEIRUT, Lebanon — Standing near what was once the dividing line of Lebanon's bygone civil war, Pope Benedict XVI said a prayer on Sunday for the victims of the conflict in Syria, where the end is hard to see.
Syria was a recurring theme in the pope's three-day visit here. As he arrived, Benedict called for both the Syrian government and its opponents to stop importing arms. Before he left on Sunday, the pope lamented the cost. "Sadly, the din of weapons continues to make itself heard. Violence and hatred invade people's lives, and the first victims are women and children.
"Why so much horror?" the pope asked, appealing to the region — and the world — to find a solution. "Why so many dead?"
That plea was quickly drowned out on Sunday by news of more killings in Syria. A factory owner in the Qadam neighborhood of Damascus, the capital, said several people, including the 18-year-old nephew of one of his employees, were taken from their homes and executed by soldiers in an apartment. And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said that five children and at least eight other people were killed by shelling in the northern province of Idlib.
A grisly video supposedly depicting the aftermath of the bombing showed the bodies of at least four children, including what appeared to be a small girl who had been decapitated.
"This is the reform of Bashar al-Assad, the unbeliever!" someone says in the video, referring to the Syrian president. "God will be fair," the man added.
On Sunday, far from the bloodshed in Syria, several Syrian Christians on the waterfront in Beirut praised the pope for focusing on the horrors of the war and, especially, for opening a window on the predicament facing many Christians.
Mostly their fears were for Syria, as the violence destroying lives and cities also sharpened sectarian lines that once were blurred or ignored. And they spoke of an added burden on Syrian Christians forced to choose between a detested government and an opposition they feared was dominated by Islamists and that intended to curb their rights.
"We have lost the feeling of safety," said a lawyer from Homs who left the city three months ago, after his home was destroyed.
They linked their worries to those of Coptic Christians in Egypt, who have been discriminated against under decades of authoritarian governments, but are fearful that the rise to power of Islamists will make things worse. Listening to Benedict on Sunday, Essam Nasser, a Syrian who works in Lebanon, said he and his relatives still in Syria would stick with a government they opposed rather than risk the uncertainty of change.
"We're with the political opposition," said Mr. Nasser, distinguishing such opposition from the armed militias fighting the government. "The Arab revolts are bringing extremist presidents. The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't suit us," he said, referring to the ruling party in Egypt.
Religious leaders fear that Christians, who make up 10 percent of Syria's population, will flee the country. Though some Christians have left, there has been nothing like the large-scale exodus that emptied Iraq of half of its Christian population.
Even so, the fighting is segregating the land. A Syrian Orthodox bishop, Silvanos al-Naamah, said that tens of thousands of Christians had left Homs, most of them taking up residence on the outskirts. He said he is hoping the refugees go no farther.
"Some feel that if they leave the country, things will be better," Bishop Silvanos said. "We are trying to fight that feeling, but I can't oblige someone to stay. I can't give them food or restore their daily life," he said.
A mysterious explosion two weeks ago damaged a church in Homs, but the bishop said there was no evidence that the combatants were targeting Christians in the city. "People want us to take sides," he said. "We are walking straight. We are with Syria."
Another Syrian clergy member who is active with the opposition faulted his fellow religious leaders for not taking a firmer stand, saying that of the clergy leaders he knew, only five or so could be considered opponents of the government. Few Syrian christians had joined the opposition, he said. The clergy member, who is currently in Lebanon and requested anonymity because he feared retribution from the Syrian government, said that legitimate concerns about the Islamist character of the rebel movement were nonetheless playing into "phobias" by many Christians about Muslims. And religious leaders seemed content to affirm those fears rather than challenge them, he said.
Eighteen months of war has hardened religious identities in disturbing ways, he said. Some of his Christian friends who had never been observant had lately started filling their Facebook pages with mentions of Jesus. The father of one friend, who he had always known as a dedicated Communist, had suddenly and enthusiastically rediscovered his Sunni Muslim roots.
The clergy member said he understood the reluctance of many people to embrace the opposition, rooted in fears of chaos that might follow the fall of the government. The proliferation of armed groups was also making people worry. "In principle, I'm against the Free Syrian Army," he said, referring to army defectors who have started fighting against the state. "It's an individual, a humanitarian and a Christian position." But, he added, "I can't impose that on a person being bombed." Perhaps the pope's advice to stop sending arms to everyone involved made the most sense, he said.
As the war's brutality spreads, many Syrians are facing a similar confusion. In Damascus on Sunday, a 45-year-old government worker displaced by a government assault on his neighborhood, al-Hajjar al-Aswad, seemed also frustrated with opposition fighters. The government had killed scores of civilians, using helicopters, tanks and artillery. The fighters, he said, simply slipped away.
"My house is on the front lines," he said. "Both sides are shooting at each other, and we're between a rock and a hard place."
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ 17 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/world/middleeast/pope-in-lebanon-rues-strife-in-syria-where-war-rages-on.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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