The situation in Syria now is very bad, very evil, but how can we be sure that an intervention will result in something better?

Syria and Egypt 

by EDWARD PENTIN

Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir says all involved parties need to heed Pope Francis’ advice and come together to work out the peace process.

Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir is a professor of philosophy, theology and Islamic studies based at St. Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon. He also teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

In an Aug. 27 interview, Father Samir, a native of Cairo, discussed the precarious situations in Egypt — where sympathizers with the Muslim Brotherhood have targeted the Coptic Catholic and Christian churches for retribution for the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi — and Syria — where the civil war and the use of chemical weapons on civilians has escalated the conflict to the point that the United States is considering military engagement in the Middle-Eastern country.

What are your main concerns about the current situation in Syria?

The situation is really very bad. We don’t see any solution, and there is none as far as I can see, because both sides have decided to take this as far as they can.

Why? For [President Bashar] Assad, defeat could mean defeat not only for him or the regime, but for the Alawite community.

Today, the problem is not simply internal to Syria. The Syrian people began by reacting against dictatorship and calling for democracy and liberty. In the meantime, and quickly, elements came from outside, from all over the world, and these elements are essentially fundamentalist Sunnis.

The problem became a confrontation between the Sunni on the one side and the Shia on the other, represented by Alawites.

So we have two groups: the army, which is geared to fighting and is often brutal, and the other — many groups who have decided to fight in the name of Islam — Sunni Islam. It’s no more a question of democracy and liberty, so that’s the general situation of Syria as we see it.

What do we know about the bigger problem of proxy powers?
Syria is at the center of a larger strategy in the Middle East, involving Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan a little bit and the West. As the conflict has evolved, Iran has been supporting Assad, as has Hezbollah.

This is one side.
The Arab peninsula is supporting the opposition, as is Turkey and other individuals from abroad. Israel is observing the situation, but I suppose if Iran enters the conflict, Israel will react. If the West enters the conflict, then we have a conflict between Russia on one side and the United States on the other. Europe is not unified, thank goodness.

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