Damascus, Syria, Jul 23, 2012 / 04:50 pm (CNA).- The Syrian rebels’ attack on Damascus has allowed radical Islamist groups to attack Iraqi refugees, Christians allegedly loyal to the Syrian government and other civilians.

Local Christians have expressed dismay and outrage at the attacks on defenseless civilians, a local source told Fides news agency.

The rebel group Liwa al-Islam, a Wahhabi group whose name means “The Brigade of Islam,” has claimed responsibility for killing top generals in President Bashar Assad’s government. On the morning of July 23, its members also killed an entire Christian family in the Damascus neighborhood of Bab Tuma.

Militants blocked the car of Nabil Zoreb, a Christian civil officer. They ordered him, his wife Violet, and his two sons George and Jimmy to get out of the car. The militants then killed them all.

  Pope Benedict XVI will travel to Lebanon on Sept. 14-16, marking his first visit to the Middle East since the Arab Spring and his fourth overall to the region (after Turkey in 2006, the Holy Land in 2009 and Cyprus in 2010). It’s also the closest he’s likely to get to the current chaos […]

  The army took strict security measures on Friday in the Akkar region in general and al-Qubayyat in particular in a bid to reassure the residents after threatening leaflets were found inside a church in the northern town, state-run National News Agency reported. The army is “conducting investigations in the area with the aim of identifying […]

  Deficit spending is at all-time high. The health care law is set to increase the deficit by $210 billion in 2012-2021 (estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, the government’s nonpartisan fiscal umpire). What would you choose — the government to live within its means or continue to live with very attractive programs that it […]

    President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday announced that he will resume contacts aimed at relaunching national dialogue, noting that the parties that choose to boycott the upcoming session would be held responsible for the consequences of their decision.   “I will resume my contacts and efforts starting this evening in a bid to relaunch […]

  Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday appointed Maronite Archbishop of Beirut Boulos Matar to a Vatican department aimed at countering growing secularization. The Vatican said Matar and the Archbishop of Jos in central Nigeria, Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, would be joining the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. Despite the raging conflict in Syria, which has also raised […]

  [Annahar] يبدو ان قرار تعميم جنون القتل والعصبيات واستخدام العنف قد اتخذ ليشمل جميع مكونات الشعب السوري دون استثناء. وآخر ما ذكر في هذا الاطار، المعلومات التي سربتها اوساط كنسية بارزة في العاصمة السورية عن قيام مسؤولين وكوادر من اجهزة الاستخبارات والامن في النظام السوري بجولة خلال الايام الاخيرة على منازل عدد من الفاعليات […]