Political Quotes

“As winter descends upon the Middle East, the plight of Syria's people who have endured nearly 3 years of savage civil war grows more desperate with each passing day. Fighting rages on throughout much of the country, and with the government forces making headway in recent months, many of the rebel groups have splintered, turning on each other. As in wars throughout history, it is civilians, especially children, who have borne much of the suffering. More than 9 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and a quarter of these, 2.2 million, have fled the country, mostly to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. Half of those refugees, more than a million people, are children. Another 6.5 million Syrians are internally displaced, having fled their homes, but remaining inside the country, often in parts of Syria that have changed hands on multiple occasions and with attendant civilian suffering. While all of Syria's people have been affected by fighting, it is Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country's population, who are at greatest risk, given their small numbers and the increasingly religious nature of a war that started out as a broad- based secular movement that sought to change the character of the Syrian regime but not the regime itself.…”