How Syria's Christians stopped turning the other cheek

The Christians of the region have long held that they should “turn the other cheek” in the face of assault and discrimination.

Father Tony Malham, an Assyrian priest who has left Iraq and now serves the community in London, says that this is the only pragmatic response, given that Christians are overwhelmingly outnumbered.

“On the one hand, this is our homeland; on the other, it’s not true to say it’s our homeland any more,” he said. “If we want to have a home for ourselves we have to fight for it, but as Christians we can’t fight, we can’t kill.

“We have to talk, we have to talk in a civilised way. But these people who are against us can’t talk, they can only fight and kill.

Mr Gabriel acknowledges that at just 1,000 strong, his militia is a small force compared to those ranged against it. But he says he can no longer stand by and watch his people driven from their homes like sheep.

“Over the past century, our people six times have suffered displacement, massacres, other forms of aggression,” he said.