Home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, the Syrian agricultural town of Izraa has stood the comings and goings of many empires over the centuries.
But as the country's civil war creeps closer, it is threatening to force the
town's Christians into permanent exile: never to return, they fear.
Exactly how many Christians have left Syria is difficult to say, but according
to the Christian charity Open Doors, some 700,000 have left the country,
which equates to some 40 per cent of Syria's pre-war Christian population.
Christian leaders in the country warn of an exodus on the scale of Iraq, where the 1.5 million-strong community that lived there prior to the first Gulf War is now down to as little as a tenth of its former size.
The threat to towns like Izraa will be uppermost in the mind of the Pope
during his visit to Turkey this week, amid warnings from Christian leaders
worldwide that their religion might soon lose its foothold in the very
region where it was born.
Looking around Izraa's 1,500 year old church, Father Elias Hanout warned: "In this land the Word started. And if you delete the Word here, then Christianity across the world will have no future."
Looking around Izraa's 1,500 year old church, Father Elias Hanout warned: "In this land the Word started. And if you delete the Word here, then Christianity across the world will have no future."
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