...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't...
s, who have beat feet their country, are holding "secret" talks with Lebanese Christian officials to explain to them about their vision on a "civil, democratic and plural" state in Syria if
President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
's regime collapses, informed sources said.
The sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published Thursday that the Salafists have so far held five meetings with Christian parties and Sunni leaderships.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has expressed fear that the rise of the Moslem Brüderbund to power in Syria would threaten the existence of Christians in the region. He has called for allowing Assad to introduce the reforms that he has promised.
The newspaper said that Lebanese Christian politicians have helped the Salafists hold meetings with U.S. and European officials to push them towards taking a decisive stance from the Assad regime.
The Salafists stressed that their vision for a new rule in Syria is not based on extremism. On the contrary, they are hoping that the collapse of Assad would bring a new era of democracy and voting.
The informed source refused to say if the meetings are taking place with representatives of the Phalange Party
The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology.
or any other side, only saying: "Mohammedans and Christians are cooperating to make these meetings successful."
The Salafi sect believes most modern Mohammedans follow a corrupted version of Islam that should be abandoned in favor of the practices of the first three generations of Mohammedans, the Salaf.