For Christians across the Mideast, Lebanon is both a refuge and a symbol of their struggles. After religious violence consumed the country in 1860, European powers pressed the Ottoman Empire to draw the borders of Lebanon, declaring its status as a homeland for the then-dominant Maronite Christians.
Demographics have since changed, with the country’s Shiite and Sunni Muslim populations eclipsing the sect, but Christians retain disproportionate political power.
Assyrians’ roots lie in ancient Mesopotamia—including modern day Iraq and northwest Syria—and they still speak dialects of Aramaic, the ancient language spoken by Jesus and his disciples.
“We consider Beirut our home and Lebanese our brothers, but it’s as if Syrians are monsters,” the businessman said, speaking of the general refugee fatigue that has consumed Lebanon since the Syrian revolution started in 2011.
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