What would a splintered Syria mean for the country’s minority groups?

Sister Verona, the head of the Sednaya Covent, shows journalists a damaged room which was attacked by artillery fire, in Sednya north of Damascus, Syria on January 31, 2012. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population in Syria, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country.
Sister Verona, the head of the Sednaya Covent, shows journalists a damaged room which was attacked by artillery fire, in Sednya north of Damascus, Syria on January 31, 2012. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population in Syria, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country. AP/Bassem Tellawi
Sister Verona, the head of the Sednaya Covent, shows journalists a damaged room which was attacked by artillery fire, in Sednya north of Damascus, Syria on January 31, 2012. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population in Syria, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country.
Sister Verona, the head of the Sednaya Covent, shows journalists a damaged room which was attacked by artillery fire, in Sednya north of Damascus, Syria on January 31, 2012. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population in Syria, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country. AP/Bassem Tellawi

What would a splintered Syria mean for the country’s minority groups?

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Sister Verona, the head of the Sednaya Covent, shows journalists a damaged room which was attacked by artillery fire, in Sednya north of Damascus, Syria on January 31, 2012. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population in Syria, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country. (AP/Bassem Tellawi)

The battle raging inside Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, continued today with claims by the government that it had taken back areas that were under rebel control. Amidst the news reports there’s been growing concern and speculation over what might happen inside Syria if the Assad regime collapses. Some have suggested the country would divide along ethnic and religious lines.

Sunni Muslims make up a majority of the population but exact figures on the size and make up of other religious and ethnic groups are hard to come by. The government doesn’t do a regular census.  But we thought we’d try to get a basic understanding today.

Christina Abraham is here to help us do that. She’s the civil rights director at CAIR-Chicago. She’s a Syrian American, her family are Assyrian Christians from the country’s northeast, and she’s working on a project to develop radio programming inside Syria that would highlight the voices of the country’s minority groups.