Thousands of displaced Christians and Yazidis are forced to live in crowded refugee camps after leaving their homes. Reuters/Ari Jala
If the U.S. and international community do not intervene, there will be no Christians left in the Middle Eastern Arab countries within two years, Lebanese parliamentarian Samy Gemayel has warned.
Speaking on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio," broadcast on Monday, Gemayel, a senior member of the Phalange Party, explained that Christians and moderate Muslims are victims of two extremist forces fighting each other.
"Today all the moderates in the region are taken between two big extremists powers. On one side you have ISIS and on the other side you have the Islamic state of Iran," WND reported Gemayel as stating.
"So you have two Islamic states with two very extremist ideologies fighting against each other. And the moderates are stuck in a sandwich between these two powers."
More than 125,000 Christians -- men, women and children -- have been forced from their homes over the last 10 months due to Islamist aggression. While an estimated 2 million Christians called Iraq home in the 1990s, church leaders say that figure plunged to around 200,000 by last year. Although many Iraqi Christians have since moved to safer regions in the north under Kurdish control, ISIS is now threatening them there too.
Despite the ongoing persecution of Christians at the hands of Muslim extremists, Gemayel said that regional Christian leaders and minority communities do not receive adequate support from the U.S. and international community.
"Unfortunately the Christians are paying the price all over the region and that's why we have been calling for the international community to do something about the Christians all over the region," he said. "That means support. And they are left alone."
Because of this, he warned, "maybe in two years you will not have Christians in the region anymore except in Lebanon because we are strong and we are still defending ourselves."
Johnnie Moore, author of "Defying ISIS" and former vice president of Liberty University, recently explained that the West has adopted an apathetic attitude toward the plight of Middle Eastern Christians because it simply "isn't relevant to their lives."
"We are watching a once-in-a-thousand-year crisis. We are witnessing the elimination of ancient Christian communities from the Middle East, communities that thrived for over 2,000 years," Moore explained. "And, it is happening under the watchful eyes of the West and all the sensible nations of this world. If we don't do something about it, we are going to be responsible for it."
Although discouraged by the lack of Western support, Gemayel said he sees some "positive developments in the military alliance of Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan."
"These moderate Sunnis are fighting fellow Sunnis," Gemayel said. "The alliance today of KSA and the Arab emirates is targeting the Sunni extremists. This is Sunni moderates fighting Sunni extremists."
"I believe this is a very good message that is sent by the Sunni world, saying that we don't want extremism in our world."
In the meantime, he warned the U.S. against forming negotiations with Iran.
"Unfortunately, I believe the dialogue with Iran is sending the wrong message," he said.
"The Sunni regimes are sending a very clear signal to the Unites States saying that you have to be careful not to jump over all the Sunnis of the region."
