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Lebanon’s Christians react to crisis in Mosul

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has taken up the cause of the uprooted Christians of Iraq, calling on international organizations to intervene.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks with Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil during a news conference in Beirut May 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RFF8
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The tragedy that befell the Christian population in Mosul has raised concern in Lebanon, leading to a state of alert on the ecclesiastical and official levels and daily meetings on the matter. After the Islamic State (IS) threw out the Christian residents of Mosul, Lebanese ecclesiastical institutions and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — which is led by Gebran Bassil, a Christian minister representing the largest Christian parliamentary bloc in Lebanon — have been in a state of frenzy. The flurry began on July 23, when church representatives concerned with the crisis in Iraq met in the headquarters of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate in Beirut.

Habib Efrem, the secretary-general of Christian Associations in Lebanon, was tasked with coordinating the work of the church’s "crisis cell," which is following the Mosul case closely. He told Al-Monitor that what happened in Mosul was a real humanitarian tragedy, but it's even more dangerous for the case to not be accorded the attention it deserves. Efrem said that two weeks ago, 15,000 Christians were living in Mosul. Today, according to the data from the Syriac Catholic Church, there are less than 20.

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