ICC Note: The violence that has torn apart the country of Syria for nearly three years has taken more than 100,000 lives. As the stream of foreign Jihadist fighters continues to rise the dangers for Syrian Christians also is rising. Caught in between the two sides and with the increasing numbers of militants subscribing to a militant Islamic ideology, the situation looks even more dire for Christians.
By Andrew Doran 
1/11/14 Syria (National Review) – Fathallah Kabud climbed behind the wheel of the car, keenly aware of the danger that lay ahead. Perhaps he thought only of the task immediately before him, the drive through the checkpoints of war-ravaged Aleppo, which might distract him from contemplating the stark reality that he and his passengers were going, unarmed, to negotiate with ruthless murderers. Or perhaps he thought of his family. Or perhaps Fathallah, a devout Christian and deacon, simply prayed. One can only speculate as to his thoughts, for these were his last moments on earth.
In the car with Fathallah were Bishop John Ibrahim and Bishop Boulos Yazigi. Bishop Yazigi, brother of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, had decided only hours before to join Bishop Ibrahim on this trip, an attempt to secure the release of two priests who had been kidnapped. Over the previous year, Bishop Ibrahim had negotiated the release of nearly two dozen hostages. Clergy had frequently been successful in Syria (as elsewhere in the Middle East) in negotiating the release of kidnapping victims — not only Christians but also Muslims, who often have as much to fear from the Islamist militants as do Christians.
The year before this fateful car ride, in the summer of 2012, the battle of Aleppo began. Foreign jihadists were already flocking to Syria, many of them war-hardened men from Central Asia and the Caucasus — among them Chechens who found in Syria a familiar maelstrom of blood and chaos in which they could thrive. The predominantly Islamist rebel factions are affiliated, ideologically if not organizationally, with al-Qaeda. These fighters are supported by the Sunni Gulf Arab states, which are eager to overthrow the Alawi regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad, an ally of Iran. They bring with them a new breed of barbarism.
By way of fear and a reputation for success, they have attracted young fighters to their ranks, frightening entire Free Syrian Army (FSA) units into abandoning their posts and weapons, which have now fallen into the hands of Islamists. The FSA commander fled the country altogether. The latest American experiment, which the FSA most assuredly was, has now failed abysmally. The U.S. subsequently made overtures to the Islamic Front, not yet designated a terrorist organization, only to be rejected by the Islamists. Assad’s government has called the overtures “reprehensible.” Ruthless sociopathic butchers who make Osama bin Laden appear civilized by comparison now dominate the rebel faction. Behind black masks, with affected religiosity and Arabic pseudonyms, they daily terrorize Syria’s civilian population, Muslim and Christian alike.
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[Full Note]