Christians Fear Salafists Might Control in Syria if Assad Falls (SYRIA-CHRISTIANS‪)‬

Lebanon's Christian and Muslim religious leaders met this week in Bkirki, the seat of the Maronite patriarch in northeast of Beirut, to discuss political and sectarian divisions among rival Lebanese factions that are threatening to destabilize the multi-sectarian country. The spiritual summit, convened by the newly-elected Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, called in a statement at the end of deliberations for a resumption of dialogue between the feuding Lebanese parties in order to defuse political and sectarian tensions in the country. The summit mulled over a wide range of topics, including the three-month-long Cabinet crisis, emigration from Lebanon, the threat of permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Lebanon's stance vis-a-vis the wave of popular uprisings that is currently sweeping the Arab world.