In the wake of an armed takeover in Syria by an Islamic terrorist group that has toppled longtime dictator, President Bashar al-Assad, the future of the Christian minority there is fragile, religious freedom advocates say.
Several Christian relief groups have called on believers worldwide to pray for the church in Syria and for the nation amid what one ABC News reporter called an “incredibly unstable situation” with the terrorists, many with ties to al-Qaida and ISIS, moving quickly to seize power.
The group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as the al-Nusra Front), along with Islamist rebel groups backed by Turkey, took two weeks to run Assad and his immediate family out of the country, as they successfully gained control of major cities such as Aleppo and Damascus, the capital.
Russian state media reported Dec. 8 that Assad had flown to Moscow with his family, where he was granted asylum by Russian President Vladmir Putin, who, along with the Iranian government, is a powerful ally of the Assad regime.
“Like all Syrians, the Christian community is stunned by this rapid change in Syria’s political reality,” Chris Summers, global head of content at Open Doors, said in a statement. “In this kind of situation, uncertainty is always present—no one knows how the new leadership in Syria will treat minorities, including Christians. Believers there have endured so much, and many likely remember the worst treatment under some groups at the height of the civil war.”
According to David Curry, president and CEO of Global Christian Relief, the population of Christians in Syria had plummeted from 1.5 million more than a decade ago to fewer than 300,000 as ongoing wars between Islamic factions led many to flee. Already, Curry told CBN’s Faithwire news site, thousands of Christians have fled into refugee camps. Others, meanwhile, are trapped in their homes amid road closures and civil unrest.
“The so-called ‘opposition forces,’ Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are little more than a reconstructed remnant of ISIS and al-Qaida fighters,” Curry told CBN News. “Considered a terrorist organization, they have, in less than two weeks, ethnically cleansed the northwest of Syria, including Aleppo and beyond, of Kurds and Christians.”
The Assad family had ruled Syria for 50 years with what the BBC has called an “iron fist.” Bashar al-Assad took over after his father, Hafez, died in 2000. In 2011, Assad’s ruthless crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising led to a bloody civil war that claimed half a million lives and displaced 12 million people. According to BBC reports, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani announced to Syrians after the group took control of Damascus: “The future is ours.”
Meanwhile, Israel confirmed it had launched airstrikes on the Assad government’s chemical weapons sites to keep them from extremist groups.
“Syrian Christians are asking us to pray for peace, for wisdom, and for the new leadership of the country to be committed to reconciliation for all Syrians,” said Summers, of Open Doors. “Christians are also asking us to pray that they will be lights of hope and peace in the midst of a chaotic time in Syria’s history.”
