Obama Confesses: Al-Assad Protected Christians

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama met Thursday with Christian leaders from the Middle East.
According to the White House, Obama stressed that it's important to protect Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East as the US and its partners fight the "Daesh" group in Iraq and Syria.

"However, Obama surprised his visitors when he told them that the President Bashar al-Assad protected the Christians in Syria," ecclesiastic sources revealed.

Al-Akhbar Lebanese daily reported that the US President befuddled the attendees who did not believe what they heard and tried to conceal it.

This statement surprised the audience, especially that Obama used the term "Syrian Government" instead of "the Syrian regime", commonly used by him to describe the government in Syria.

One of the Christian figures was encouraged and commented on Obama's surprising confession by saying: "Then, you have to stop talking about moderate Syrian opposition".
The US President also spoke about the US raids against "Daesh" in Syria, saying it aims to "help the continuation of the political process", in reference to the " Geneva1 and Geneva 2" Conferences.

Obama's meeting was attended by his national security adviser, Susan Rice. The White House added the conferees discussed the challenges posed to Christians by the rise of extremism in the Middle East.
He further stated that Washington will work with the Lebanese Armed Forces and other regional partners to fight "Daesh" militants and promote stability.

The Patriarchs submitted to Obama a paper which displays the situations of the Christians in each Eastern country.

Source: Al-Akhbar Lebanese daily, Translated and Edited by website team