Trump gives Macron a slice of the Syrian pie.
When the French president ignores the visit of the Patriarch of the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East — the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East — it is something that cannot be ignored or overlooked.
Rather, it represents an attempt to undermine what remains of the Orthodox presence in the Middle East.
Going back two weeks, when the Vatican ambassador arrived in Syria and visited several areas with Catholic communities.
Including the village of Qunaya in the Idlib countryside, a sparsely populated village whose inhabitants converted to Latin Catholicism during the French colonial period and were originally Orthodox.
The Latin Bishop Hanna Jallouf, who had recently been on a European tour, appeared and declared on a Catholic media outlet: “The Catholics are the source of the continuation of Christianity in Syria.”
To reiterate, this bishop is a close friend of the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, who has become Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the transitional government in Syria after the fall of Assad, according to a joint Turkish-British-American-Russian plan.
Returning to French President Macron’s visit and his statements regarding French schools — which are linked to the policy of promoting Francophonie — as well as his meeting with Catholic bishops at Damascus airport and some of those he referred to as “civil society,”
These moves appear to mark the beginning of a plan devised in 2025, after the fall of Assad, in which France played no role.
The plan seeks to strengthen Catholic influence within a broader Francophonie revival strategy, at the expense of the largest Christian community in the Middle East, at a time when the Antiochian Orthodox Patriarchate is experiencing its greatest historical weakness.
Of course, the Orthodox Priest Father Spyridon Tanous — who was active and closely witnessed the most minute details of the 15-year Syrian crisis — possesses a wealth of documents and information that deserve to be recorded and documented.
According to Father Tanous, he is currently working on a book about the great betrayal plotted against the Christians of the Middle East during the Syrian crisis.
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