Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - "We urgently need to protect civilians. There is a danger that the season of revenge begins and that the civilians of Damascus are treated as 'traitors' because they have not taken an active part in the revolution": is the warning that reaches Fides Agency by some families in the neighborhoods of Qassaa and Jaramana, where up to 100 thousand between Christians and Druze live. Many are closed in the basements of homes, others have left and are sleeping in schools, other families are still fleeing the city. In two districts, the scene of fighting, there are hundreds of revolutionary fighters, nestled among the houses of civilians: Fides receives the appeal from Muslim and Christian families, "not to involve civilians in the fighting, in these tragic hours, and to respect the Geneva Convention on the neutrality of civilian homes." "Thousands of Sunnis, Christian, Druze and Alawite civilians are in fear – notes a source of Fides in Damascus - because a 'proscription list' is beginning to circulate."
Damascus is paralyzed: because of the conflict, some neighborhoods have been emptied, in some areas there is lack of electricity and water, one begins to see gangs of looters and plunderers. Only yesterday 20 thousand refugees went towards Lebanon. "Among the revolutionary fighters there are armed gangs outside the control of the Free Syrian Army and the National Syrian Council: Who will stop them from taking revenge and carrying out sectarian violence? It promises to be a terrible month," concluded the source of Fides.
Meanwhile, among the civilian population there is a spirit of solidarity that goes beyond religious affiliation: two famous landmarks of the city, the great Omayyad Mosque and the Shrine of the Conversion of St. Paul, have brought together youth and adults, Christians and Muslims, to pray for peace and reconciliation. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 20/7/2012)
