Syria's latest battle: The PR fight over sanctuary for Christians
Throughout Syria's Civil War combatant forces have embarked on a variety of PR campaigns, accompanying fighting on the ground, in order to project their legitimacy and attract support to their causes. This article investigates one such example of this phenomenon in relation to the northern Syrian Armenian-Christian town of Kessab. It was originally published in April 2014.
When the Syrian opposition took over the Armenian-Christian town of Kessab in coastal Syria last month, its 2,000 residents fled. Given the presence of Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and other Islamist groups, they feared the worst for their town.
So far, these fears have not been realized. Instead, rebels appear to be using Kessab as an opportunity to try to undo their reputation for extreme brutality towards Syria's Christians and Shiites. But the Assad regime, which considers itself the protector of minorities, has launched a media campaign to demonstrate how Islamists are terrorizing Christians in Kessab, turning the town into a public relations battlefield in Syria's civil war...
(To continue reading please follow the link: https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2014/0407/Syria-s-latest-battle-The-PR-fight-over-sanctuary-for-Christians)
