CAIRO: Syrian security forces and their paid thugs, or shabiha, are attempting to stir up sectarian differences between Muslims and Christians in an effort to create a sectarian conflict between the two factions that would shift public attention away from the government's brutal violence against civilians. Syrian security forces are executing Christian citizens and mutilating their bodies, then returning the corpses to their families and blaming the murders on Islamists, according to a Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) press release on Friday. “The Syrian regime is trying its best, depending on the security forces and its elements of mercenaries, to continue in the process of murdering and the brutal abusing of the unarmed Syrian civilians from Muslims or Christians in order to stir up the sources of sectarian hatred in Syria in an attempt to ignite a sectarian war,” explained that SOHR press release. In an other effort to further exacerbate sectarian differences in the beleaguered nation, the Syrian government has ordered its security forces to expel Father Paolo Dall' Oglio, an Italian priest who has become well known for soothing Muslim-Christian tensions while posted at a mountainside church in Deir Mar Moussa since 1982. Father Paolo has delivered messages of peace to Muslims and Christians alike, as they have gathered in the sanctuary of Deir Mar Moussa seeking a spiritual retreat. Muslims, who are randomly detained at security checkpoints following Friday prayers, are forced to swear allegiance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over God by pledging, “No God, but Bashar Assad.” Those who refuse are beaten. If they refuse to kowtow to the Syrian president following the beating, they are then summarily executed; their corpses are then mutilated and then returned to their families. SOHR calls on the Arab League, United Nations, and the UN Security Council to intervene on behalf of the Syrian people, as it fears that the unstable situation in Syria will soon spiral into a civil war. Conservative estimates state that 3,500 Syrians have been killed since protests swept the country in March, although some estimates place this number much higher. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/9Cpf2 Tags: Bashar, featured Section: Latest News, Syria
