MENA Minorities

Prominent proponents of the Eastern Orthodox church in Lebanon come out in strong opposition against the declaration of the military intervention of Russia as a 'holy war' by the Russian Orthodox church. Good, but remember the seat of the patriarch of Antioch is Damascus, not Beirut. Syria's 'holy war' by Sami Nader, Al Monitor

As it was mentioned here before, the Greek Orthodox - more correctly called the Rum Orthodox - patriarchate of Jerusalem has a legitimation problem (watch some footage here ). The patriarchate, which covers Jordan (with a sizable Orthodox population) Palestine and Israel, has an almost entirely Arab congregation but the highest ranking clergy including the patriarch is from Greece. It's a long ongoing struggle of emancipation from the Greeks which dates back way to the mandatory period, when the Orthodox community had its own Arab awakening. But the struggle against Greek domination is also deeply connected to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, mainly because the patriarchate is often accused of being to soft to Israeli demands, foremost selling church owned land to the Jewish state. Also the measures against the lately increasing efforts towards the conscription of Christians to the IDF , which is propagated by an Orthodox priest, are lukewarm if any. Remember,  Irenai...

Clashes broke out in Homs between the National Defence Forces (NDF) and militiamen of the Syrian Social Social Nationalist Party, who are both fighting on the side of the regime. With the increasing importance of militias for the regime, the factionalism of the former is increasing. This leads to the assumption, that such incidents might happen more frequently in the future, since the army (and the revolutionary guards) are extremely overstretched and find it difficult to control their allied militias. What makes this episode even more interesting is the sectarian component: while the NDF here is mostly Alawite, the SSNP in Homs and nearby Wadi an-Nasara ("Valley of the Christians") has a large Christian (mostly Greek Orthodox) following. Fighting among pro-Assad groups points to factional future by Lauren Williams, The Daily Star BEIRUT: Fierce clashes erupted between pro-Assad militias from the National Defense Forces and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Ho...

Maaloula nuns waiting to return to convent: Mother Superior by  Asharq Al-Awsat Beirut,  Asharq Al-Awsat —The Maaloula nuns released earlier this month by the Al-Nusra Front are being hosted by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Damascus and are not under house arrest, as recent reports suggested, according to the nuns’ Mother Superior, Pelagia Sayyaf. The nuns were released as part of a prisoner exchange with the government of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad reportedly mediated by Qatar and Lebanese security authorities. There had been reports that the thirteen Lebanese and Syrian nuns based out of the convent of St. Thecla in Maaloula and held captive by the Al-Nusra Front for more than three months had been placed under house arrest by the Assad government for comments made following their release. The nuns had expressed thanks to the Emir of Qatar for his efforts to mediate talks between the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and the Damascus government while also co...