President Sleiman says hazards threatening Christians are well-known

      
President Michel Sleiman said on Saturday that the number of minorities is back to the forefront after the rise in extremism, adding that Lebanon has respected the minorities and consolidated their briefs.        

"The number of Christians decreased to 6% in the Orient after wars and the Arab-Israeli conflict," Sleiman said at the first conference on the Christians of the Orient.
       
President Sleiman also noted that hazards threatening the Christian community became well-known, citing changes in demography, emigration, sectarian tension and the declining role in power.        

Separately, Sleiman said he had received a letter from the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani who pledged to exert tireless efforts in order to release the two abducted bishops in Syria.             

On April 22, Bishops Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church and John Ibrahim of the Assyrian Orthodox Church were kidnapped while they were traveling outside the northern city of Aleppo.