 As with most other ethnic minorities in Syria, most Greco-Syrian Orthodox Christians speak only Arabic along with a school-taught foreign language such as French or English; however, a working or rudimentary knowledge of Greek, for liturgical purposes, as well as among older, particularly first- and second-generation, individuals, is relatively widespread.Also, Damascus has a private Greek-language school for the community; it is maintained by visiting instructors from Greece.In addition to the Greek Orthodox Christian population, there are also about 8,000 Greek-speaking Muslims of Cretan origin in Al-Hamidiyah, Syria and 7,000 people of Greek Muslim descent in Tripoli, Lebanon.