The Assad household’s rule of Syria, which lasted greater than 50 years, collapsed on December 8. Jihadist forces took management of Damascus after President Bashar al-Assad escaped to an expensive life in Moscow. Today, roughly half one million Christians and a couple of.5 million Kurds in Syria face a way forward for persecution and abuse by the hands of jihadist terrorists.
The offensive launched by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously the Syrian department of al-Qaeda, started on November 27. These terrorists, backed by Turkey, first captured Aleppo and a string of different cities and cities in a matter of days, earlier than converging on Damascus.
Since 2017, HTS has been the dominant Islamist militia in Syria. A former department of Al Qaeda, in 2018, HTS was formally designated a terrorist group by the US authorities. The group’s title, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, means “Organization for the Liberation of the Levant,” that means a lot of the Middle East, together with Israel, Lebanon and Jordan. Since 2019, HTS, working with Turkey, has managed northern Idlib via the so-called “Syrian Salvation Government” (SSG). Now, as Turkey and the HTS plan to “reshape Syria,” each Kurds and Christians discover themselves underneath siege.
HTS, which cooperates with the Turkish navy and Turkish-backed teams in Syria, is dedicated to establishing an Islamist state throughout Syria, no less than for a begin. The founder and present chief of HTS is Ahmed Hussein Al-Shara, higher generally known as Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, Before founding HTS, Jolani led Jabhat Al-Nusra, a Syrian al Qaeda affiliate.
In a 2019 report on terrorism by the US State Department, HTS/Al-Nusrah Front is described as considered one of “the world’s most energetic and harmful terrorist teams”.
In 2022, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a listening to on non secular freedom in Syria, and said:
“The al-Qaeda offshoot Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) continues to brutalize and displace non secular minority communities within the northwestern area of Idlib, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has elevated its presence in japanese Syria, waging nearly every day assaults and destabilizing the area for non secular minorities. Opposition teams leverage their Turkish financing and navy assist to wage campaigns of spiritual and ethnic cleaning in Afrin.”
During the jihadi offensive that started final month, HTS was supported on the northern entrance by the Syrian National Army (SNA), a coalition of a dozen Islamist armed teams largely financed, outfitted and educated by Turkey.
According to a 2022 report by the US State Department, on the time, most Syrian Christians lived in and round Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Hasakah.
All these areas aside from Hasakah (the vast majority of which is at the moment underneath Kurdish management) fell to Turkish-backed jihadists starting on November 27.
According to the human rights group Open Doors, there are round 579,000 Christians in Syria. Many of them fled cities and villages seized by jihadists, to take refuge within the previously government-controlled Wadi al-Nasara (“Valley of Christians”). With the collapse of the Assad regime, the Valley has fallen to jihadists, and the lives of these Christians are in peril.
On December 7, HTS reportedly warned the Christian inhabitants of the Valley of the Christians to “not stand with the regime.” The information web site Orthodox Christianity reported on December 9:
“Syrian Christians are certain to face escalating hardships and persecution because the capital metropolis of Damascus was taken by Islamist rebels…
“His Eminence Metropolitan Ephraim of Aleppo of the Antiochian Orthodox Church issued an announcement on November 30, urging his flock to stay in peace and prayer and promising to stay along with his flock to the tip.
“Met. Ephraim was enthroned because the ruling hierarch of Aleppo in December 2021. His predecessor, His Eminence Metropolitan Boulos (Paul), was captured by Islamist rebels in April 2013 and by no means heard from once more.
“Fr. Bassam Nasif, professor at Balamand University and shut affiliate of Met. Ephraim, tells the Orthodoxia News Agency that issues are tragic for Aleppo and particularly for the Orthodox Christians who’re nonetheless there and refuse to depart the world, their properties, and their church buildings.
“Every hour that passes, we do not know what’s going to occur and who will survive this ordeal. Everyone left Aleppo, each Syrians and Armenians—solely our Metropolitan Ephraim of Aleppo and Alexandretta remained, together with two or three monks who’re with him within the Metropolis.
“‘Please pray for them as a result of we do not know if we’ll see them once more. We all do not forget that 11 years in the past, Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, his predecessor (the buddy of the present Patriarch of Antioch John) was kidnapped by Islamists and has been lacking since then. We concern the identical might occur to the present Metropolitan.
“‘Aleppo is at the moment underneath occupation. All municipal staff of organizations and companies left their jobs, and rebels took their positions. They took down the Syrian flag from public buildings and raised their very own.'”
According to experiences coming from Syria, jihadists started abusing Christians within the cities and villages the minute they took over. The X account “Greco-Levantines Worldwide” reported on December 10:
“Father Michel Nouman, one of the well-known monks in Homs, shared a troubling incident on Facebook. He recounted how a gaggle of Muslims attacked Christian farmers in a Christian village. The Christians have been abused, overwhelmed, and accused of being infidels [kafirs]. This is what we face as Christians proper now in Syria.”
The identical account additional reported on December 11:
“HTS factions desecrated the Hagia Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Al-Suqaylabiyah, in Hama province’s countryside, vandalizing and destroying its contents, as proven within the video.”
If a world diplomatic intervention to guard Christians doesn’t happen, the destiny awaiting them could be seen in how Islamic jihadists handled them after they took management of Syrian cities and villages at first of the civil battle in 2011. In jihadi-held territories in Syria, as famous in a January 2024 Open Doors report:
“Due to their public visibility, the leaders of historic church communities are notably focused for assaults or kidnapping in areas the place Islamic militants are energetic… In areas managed by radical Islamic teams, a lot of the church buildings belonging to the historic church communities have both been demolished or used as Islamic facilities. Public expressions of Christian religion are prohibited, and church buildings or monasteries can’t be repaired or restored, no matter whether or not the injury was collateral or intentional.
“Fear amongst Christians has been at a excessive stage during the last years, notably attributable to the threats, intimidation and kidnappings carried out by radical Islamic teams such because the al-Qaeda affiliated Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the Ansar Brigade and the Al-Farouq battalions. Particularly within the northeast, a variety of elements (mixed with the Turkish invasion of northern Syria) have dealt a blow to Christian confidence in Deir ez Zaur, Al-Hasakah and Qamishli in addition to the predominantly Christian villages on the border with Turkey: For occasion, the reactivation of ISIS sleeper cells, church bombings, the homicide of an Armenian priest collectively along with his father in November 2019 and the 2022 assault on a jail in Hasaka during which a number of IS militants broke out. The escalation of Turkish aggression and the potential for a large-scale invasion of the border areas make Christian communities really feel extraordinarily threatened because the areas are managed by radical Islamic militias and Turkish authorities…
“The strict Islamic legislation imposed by militants in [the Turkish occupied city of] Afrin hinders the return of Christians, whereas the accelerated return of refugees and IDPs [internally displaced persons] from Lebanon might drive Christians to return to areas underneath the management of Islamic militants the place they’re weak…
“Men specifically face the specter of abduction and killing, notably if they’re ready of church management. Women additionally danger abduction, in addition to the specter of sexual harassment and rape.”
The extreme persecution of Christians in Syria has led to the group’s inhabitants collapse. About two-thirds of Syria’s Christian inhabitants has fled the nation because the begin of its brutal civil battle in 2011.
In 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) arrange its caliphate masking giant elements of Syria and Iraq, and a strict model of Sharia legislation was applied. The ISIS-caliphate was lastly eradicated because of intervention by the West and Russia in 2019. During the ISIS interval, Syria’s Christians have been severely persecuted, even massacred, resulting in a serious exodus of the group from the nation.
Since then, Turkish navy campaigns have led to the occupation of enormous swaths of Syrian territory by Turkey-backed jihadist forces akin to HTS. Some of Turkey’s navy campaigns concentrating on Kurds in Syria embrace:
- From August 2016 to March 2017, Turkish troops and Turkish-backed, Islamist “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) seized the area between Afrin and Manbij districts, pushing US-allied Kurdish militia east of the Euphrates River throughout Turkey’s “Operation Euphrates Shield”.
- In 2017, HTS jihadists took management of the city of Idlib, which they’ve since occupied and exploited along with Turkish forces.
- In 2018, Turkey carried out one other navy invasion in opposition to Syria, which it referred to as “Operation Olive Branch.” Around 25,000 FSA fighters joined Turkish forces to seize cities and villages managed by the Kurds, seizing the Afrin area of northwest Syria.
- Throughout 2019, preventing intensified in Syria. During Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring” navy marketing campaign, Turkey and its jihadist allies invaded northern Syria, created a so-called “protected zone” alongside the Syrian-Turkish border, the place it makes use of Islamic fighters to regulate predominantly Kurdish and Christian areas.
- In 2020, Turkey launched “Operation Spring Shield,” to counter an offensive by the Syrian authorities in Idlib.
According to many experiences, these jihadists allied with Turkey focused non secular and ethnic minorities, together with Christians, within the northern area and alongside the border. A June 2020 USCIRF listening to entitled “Safeguarding Religious Freedom in Northeast Syria,” famous:
“Turkish armed forces attacked, murdered, kidnapped, raped and detained Kurds and different ethnic and spiritual minorities, together with Christians and Yezidis, and destroyed their non secular websites. They additionally moved internally displaced Syrians (IDPs) – predominantly Sunni Arabs – from different elements of Syria to the properties of minority refugees within the north. This is inflicting a substantial demographic change which can forestall Christians and different minorities returning to their villages. In Afrin, Turkish-backed troops are reported to be concentrating on Kurdish Christians.”
Hundreds of 1000’s of Christians have been displaced throughout Syria’s 13-year-long civil battle, and people who stay of their properties underneath jihadist rule are sometimes persecuted, harassed, or killed. According to Open Doors:
“According to in-country sources, Christians within the space occupied by Turkish armed forces really feel that there is no such thing as a future for Christian communities there due to Turkish aggression in addition to the affect of Shiite militias. Examples embrace the water cuts and regular bombing by Turkey and its proxies in areas with important Christian populations e.g., Al Hasakah and Khabour Valley, amongst others.
“The lack of water and unsanitary situations led to outbreaks of dysentery, typhoid and different contagious illnesses. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Islamic allies constructed dams in areas underneath their management, additional decreasing the movement of water from the Euphrates. As a outcome, hundreds of thousands of individuals are existentially threatened by the ensuing drought, which severely impacts agricultural manufacturing, ingesting water provide and the well being of the inhabitants. These developments and the function of Shia militias (together with kidnappings) proceed to have a destructive affect on the Christian group and result in demographic adjustments in Christian villages and neighborhoods…
“The Turkish invasion of northeast Syria has raised issues amongst Christian leaders, as parts inside Turkey’s forces and their allies pursue Islamist agendas hostile to non-Sunni communities. Land theft, inhabitants shifts, and the unfold of radical Islamic concepts pose important challenges for Christians, whereas Iranian militias actively recruit and unfold Shia ideology. According to Christians within the nation, there was a rise within the variety of radical Islamic madrassas, resulting in a wider unfold of radical Islamic concepts and discrimination in opposition to non secular minorities. The presence of armed mercenary teams and the growing navy forces of Iran and Turkey have heightened tensions and elevated the chance of assaults in opposition to Christians. The future stays unsure, and there are issues concerning the potential for additional persecution and an additional decline of the Christian inhabitants in Syria.”
Syrian Christians are immediately a persecuted minority, however the Church has been current in Syria because the time of the New Testament, the place the conversion of Saul/Paul is talked about on the street to Damascus (see Chapter 9 of the Book of Acts). The New Testament confirms that the Syrian cities of Damascus and Antioch had Christian communities. The Christian religion unfold quick and, on the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, 22 Syrian bishops have been current.
In the seventh century AD, when Islam invaded and captured Syria, Christianity was the bulk faith in Syria. Caliph Omar dismissed Christian officers, and his successor obliged all Christians to put on distinctive garments. By the ninth century, Islam was gaining the higher hand, many church buildings had grow to be mosques and, by about 900 AD, roughly half the Syrian inhabitants was Muslim. In 1124, the Aleppo cathedral was made right into a mosque. Throughout the centuries, the Christian church in Syria has gone via – and continues to be going via – appreciable ranges of discrimination, intolerance and assaults.
Syria additionally holds a profound place in Greek historical past, courting again to the conquests of Alexander the Great within the 4th century BCE. The overwhelming majority of Christians in Syria are of Greek ancestry. “The Greco-Syrian Nation,” a digital platform that serves as a web based voice for the Syro-Greek Christians, posted a press launch titled “Post-Ba’athist Syria | What can we do now?” In it, they wrote:
“The Rum [Greek] Orthodox and Melkite-Rum Catholic Christians of Syria characterize a definite ethnicity with a wealthy cultural heritage that deserves recognition and illustration in any future political panorama of our beloved Levant…
“It is our hope {that a} post-Ba’athist Syria might be secular and democratic, a state that embraces the range of its individuals and acknowledges its ethnic and spiritual pluralism. Therefore, we’ll proceed to advocate for the correct of Syrian Rum, and all Levantine Rum, to live on in our ancestral lands and attempt for the popularity of our ethnic Rum id, in addition to our proper to revive our ancestral Greek language all through the Levant.”
Hadeel Oueis, editor-in-chief of Jusoor News and a Syrian-American Christian, informed Gatestone:
“Christians in Syria are cautiously anticipating the unknown future amid the chaos and hatred left behind by the Assad regime. The surprising revelations of crimes in opposition to tens of 1000’s of civilian detainees have left all the Syrian inhabitants, together with Christians, in despair. Yet, their best concern stays whether or not a brand new authorities will safeguard their cultural, social, and spiritual freedoms. In this vital juncture, Syria’s Christians want diplomatic and political assist from Europe to make sure they’ve a seat on the desk in shaping Syria’s future, together with autonomy and recognition to guard their distinctive id.”
This millennia-old Christian group in Syria may come to an finish because of the ongoing jihadist takeover of the nation. Syrian Christians want instant worldwide assist to guard themselves from Islamic terrorists. Eiad Herera, Spokesman of the Antiochian Greek Organization “A.G.O.”, informed Gatestone:
“Christians in Syria, at this level, need equality and to not be handled as second-class residents. Therefore, the best imaginative and prescient for state-building is the express declaration and pursuit of a civil, democratic, and secular state.
“The function of the United Nations and main powers is important and pivotal in guaranteeing the institution of this state, which should inherently shield all residents and minorities.
“At this level, failure to construct such a state means the area and the world will face important safety challenges, together with an growing menace to the standing and existence of minorities, notably Christians, who’re residing in fixed and profound anxiousness.”
Both President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance lately wrote concerning Syria: “This will not be our battle.” However, to stop additional abuses, massacres, or pressured displacements of Christians and Kurds, and to cease the unfold of jihadism within the area, the US ought to get entangled to guard Kurds and Christians there and to be sure that that Syria won’t grow to be Turkey’s “Afghanistan.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Al-Jolani are actually making all kinds of human-rightsy guarantees that they know the West likes to listen to – simply as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini did earlier than he took over Iran, and because the Taliban did earlier than they shortly demolished 20 years of US human rights progress in Afghanistan.
Just as Iran is the Shiite “head of the octopus” whose tentacles include Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and different assorted militias, so Erdogan is the Sunni “head of the octopus” in Syria. While everyone seems to be busy looking at rival terrorist teams in Syria, it’s essential to not neglect for a minute the nation backing them: Turkey.
Erdogan’s dream has at all times been the “liberation of Jerusalem”:
“Conquest is Mecca, conquest is Saladin, it is to hoist the Islamic flag over Jerusalem once more; conquest is the heritage of Mehmed II and conquest means forcing Turkey again on its ft.”
A jihadi Syria gives a conveniently straight path to meet Erdogan’s long-term dream.
Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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