Many Middle Eastern countries recognize the existing, historic Christian communities but deny non-Christian citizens the right to espouse the Christian faith – and they actively persecute those who do.

The new government has pledged to preserve religious freedom and minority rights, but Jesus followers are taking a wait-and-see approach.

The roots of human rights actually go back much further than the Enlightenment, to minority Christian traditions including Mennonites and Baptists.

After the fall of the al-Asad regime, we are reminded of cases such as Libya and Iraq, where war did not lead to stable governments.

“The church is still figuring out the best way to help the people living under this new reality”, says a pastor in the Syrian city. Over 700 people have been killed so far in this latest attack.

Fifty people gathered to pray for Pakistan The Italian Evangelical Alliance asks authorities to “implement effective measures to ensure the safety of Christian minorities”.

An evangelical pastor in Aleppo analyses the “very critical” situation in Syria. “Pray for us, our sufferings became so great”. The UN says at least 5,800 people died due to the earthquake.

During her first press conference, Nikki Haley stated that the UN has “breathtaking double standards” with Israel, but the US  “will not turn a blind eye to this anymore.”

The huge investment in agriculture transformed  the semi-arid Al Badia region into fields of maize and cotton, by means of subsidies to farmers and the drilling of thousands of wells. This added to the pressure on water resources.