Crisis for Christians
Uncertain, dangerous times for Syrian believers: groups
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had power in northwest Syria during the 13-year Syrian civil war. HTS recently ousted Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad. Amjad Media/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham via wilsoncenter.org
The ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 creates a power vacuum, with no one knowing how al-Qaida offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) will fill it.
HTS is praised by media and others worldwide because Assad led a brutal regime against political prisoners and others. Countless Syrians were held in a prison with the nickname “Slaughterhouse.”
HTS’ ascension to leadership of the seventh largest Middle Eastern nation creates unanswered questions for the declining population of Syrian Christians. When the Syrian civil war started in 2011, Christians made up 10 percent, or 1.5 million, of the population. Today, there are 300,000–and that number could drop.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Iran may have been the catalyst for events in Syria. Additionally, Russia being preoccupied with its war in Ukraine established additional incentives for HTS to act against Assad's weakened government from the civil war.
Russia and Iran had been faithful partners for Assad during his reign that followed his father, Hafez al-Assad. Together they ruled Syria for more than 50 years. However, Iran being weakened by Israel’s repeated attacks on Hezbollah this fall weakened Assad to the end.
The U.S. designated HTS a terrorist organization in 2018. By Monday, reports surfaced of Islamists rounding up Christians. On Dec. 13, six Druze communities in southwest Syria wanted to be annexed by Israel because they don’t want to be led by Islamists.
Meanwhile, the head of Global Christian Relief (GCR), a leading religious rights watchdog, stated that “Islamist-led rebel forces seized humanitarian aid that could have fed tens of thousands of people,” GCR President and CEO David Curry told The Christian Post (CP), noting the group delivered food and humanitarian supplies to churches two weeks ago.
‘We've continuously been delivering aid the last two years, but the stock that we have now, some of it has been captured by these rebels,’ Curry said. ‘There's still some that remains; we're going to distribute that as cautiously as we possibly can to people who are now on the run, but the reality is this is a very dangerous area right now for Christians.’
Curry had a column in the CP Dec. 12 and wrote the following:
Reports of Christians being forced to flee as hundreds of thousands are displaced and churches are being taken over have already emerged from Syria and mirrors what Global Christian Relief is hearing from partners on the ground. Men and women are being shot, burned, and beheaded. Roads are filled with dead bodies, and some 150 women have been kidnapped by Syrian National Army (SNA), a Turkish-backed militia, in the Shabha region. Jihadi groups are telling others not to upload human rights violations to their phones or social media like Hamas did because then the world would know who they really are. But we know who they are.
HTS took Aleppo, one of Syria’s largest cities, in late November with plans to oust Assad. Reports revealed remnants of Syria’s army laid down weapons and stripped off their uniforms. HTS would take Homs and was in Damascus by Dec. 7 and 8. There was little resistance and Assad followed his family in getting asylum in Russia.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani appointed Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the northwest, as interim prime minister until March 2025. The BBC’s David Gritten reported:
Bashir chaired a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday attended by members of his new government and those of Assad's former cabinet to discuss the transfer of portfolios and institutions.
That led to Assad formally turning over the government to Abu Mohammed al Jolani, the leader of HTS. It also led to Jolani naming Mohammed al Bashir as the interim prime minister.
Photo from Syria came via International Christian Concern at persecution.org
International Christian Concern stated the following in a press release:
As the international community watches to see what type of government will replace the Assad regime, hundreds of thousands of religious minorities in Syria are watching, too. For them, the new government’s respect for religious freedom is an intensely personal unknown. Should al-Jolani continue to signal support for the rights of Christians and others, that would be a fundamental shift for the better. But that outcome is far from guaranteed, and a reversion to his old ways under ISIS and al-Qaida would be disastrous for these already vulnerable communities that suffered so much under Assad.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following warning 3 years ago against HTS and Turkey:
Indeed, in 2020 and 2021, Turkey and Turkish-affiliated groups opposing the Syrian government have committed numerous violations against Christians, Yazidis, Kurds, and other ethnic and religious and minorities. Violations have included shelling and destroying traditionally Christian-populated areas such as Tel Tamer in northeast Syria, purposefully driving out residents.
The loudest warning to Western leaders comes from Mosab Hassan Yousef–a son of one of the co-founders of Hamas–who now lives in the U.S. Yousef’s message on X Dec. 9 has had nearly 595,000 views focused on the new Syrian leaders and how the West should respond. Yousef wrote:
The world waits to see what happens, and Christians worldwide will be praying for their brothers and sisters in Syria.
