29/08/2021

1860-1914 or 1975-2019: Is the existence of Lebanon a disturbance to any?

By Dr Amine Jules Iskandar Syriac Maronite Union – Tur Levnon


The genocide of the Christians in Lebanon was interrupted in 1860 when the Syriac Maronite Church used its relations with Europe to achieve a military landing of French protection forces. Meanwhile, turmoil and massacres continued in Armenia and Syria-Mesopotamia. To subvert Lebanon, however, other and more nefarious methods had to be employed.

In early 1914, the Ottomans banned the use of foreign currency and forced the Lebanese to exchange their savings with the Ottoman currency. As soon as this operation was completed, Enver Pasha drastically devalued the value of his currency. Everyone became poor, except for the handful of corrupt who were carefully placed in key positions. At the same time, Jamal Pasha confiscated all of Lebanon’s fuel, wheat, medicines, and pack animals and rounded up all medical doctors. All was sent to Syria. This famine-genocide, known as Kafno in Syriac, was a success. Lebanon lost three quarters of its population through death and emigration.

In 1975, the transfer of Lebanon’s Christians to Canada was cancelled when the Lebanese, led by their Church, decided to fiercely defend themselves; on their own against both the Arab and Western worlds. However, with the turn of the second millennium, the unrest in Armenia resumed and the displacement of Christians from Syria-Mesopotamia accelerated up to the point of their almost complete disappearance.

Again, Lebanon fell back to the more subtle methods of the Ottomans – interrupted in 1919.

Starting 2019, foreign currencies held by the Lebanese were subtly seized and their own national currency sharply devalued. A militia placed corrupt people in key positions and took control of the illegal transport of fuel, wheat, and medicines to Syria. Not to mention the disappearance of medical doctors and young people.

This phenomenon has a name: white genocide. It is cleaner and weighs less on the western conscience.


Dr Amine Jules Iskandar is an architect and the former president of the Syriac Maronite Union – Tur LevnonAmine Jules Iskandar has written several articles on the Syriac Maronites, their language, culture, and history. You can follow him @Amineiskandar2

For the article in French see L’orient le Jour

For the article in Spanish see Maronitas.org

The views expressed in this op-ed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SyriacPress.

Also read from the same author:

You have to know how to die to be able to live

A Port, a City, and a Mountain

Language in the Formation of Nation States

“KAFNO”: The Genocide on the Christians of Mount Lebanon during the First World War

The Mysterious Origins of the Language of the Maronites