Assad’s fall leaves Syrian Christians in peril

In days, half a century of history has been overturned in Syria. While thousands rejoice in the streets at the fall of an undoubted tyrant, the end of the Assad era leaves the country’s remaining Christians in potentially greater peril than ever.  

Home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, Syria’s Christian population can trace their roots to the early Church and the apostle Paul. Since its independence in 1946, Syria’s politics, though volatile, has been ideologically Arab nationalist - and Christians and other minorities generally enjoyed equality and freedom to worship under Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar, who succeeded him as president in 2000.  

However, the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 shattered this fragile security. After years of horrific violence, an uneasy truce had effectively existed since 2020, but in a single week, the Assad dynasty’s repressive rule has collapsed. 

Reign of terror 

Syria’s main liberators are the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a proscribed terrorist organisation in both the UK and USA. They first emerged as an affiliate of al-Qaeda, later changing their name to al-Nusra Front, and have been previously implicated in the targeting of Christians.  

In 2013, Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Aleppo, and Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, were kidnapped on a humanitarian trip. Neither Christian leader was ever heard from again, and suspicion for their kidnapping fell on al-Nusra Front.  

If nothing is done, it is not impossible that all the Christians in Syria may be wiped out 

Within a day of the fall of Assad’s regime, Labour cabinet minister Pat McFadden MP questioned HTS’s terror designation, telling BBC Radio 4: “Obviously that’s got to be considered…The leader of that group has distanced himself in a way from some of the things that have been said in the past. He is saying some of the right things about the protection of minorities, about respecting people’s rights.”  

Sadly, jihadist groups have a history of telling one narrative to Western media and another to audiences at home.  

Protection racket 

‘Protection’ for Christians in areas under jihadist rule has historically taken the form of being given non-citizen dhimmi status. On the basis of Quranic teaching, non-Muslim minorities are permitted to live under Islamic rule subject to a range of conditions set out in a dhimma contract – including payment of a specific tax and restrictions on worship.  

This policy was enforced on Christians during the Ummayad and Abbasid Caliphates (661-1258 AD) and was officially adopted by Islamic State (IS) when the group controlled parts of Syria and Iraq.  

Far from being ‘protected’, dhimmi status places the minorities in a position where any breach of Islamic law could instantly turn them into enemies, who can then be legally killed with impunity. In 2014, when IS took control of the Iraqi city of Mosul, many Christians fled rather than live under such ‘protection’.  

So far, there has been no clear statement from HTS that Christians – or other religious minorities – will be equal citizens in the new Syria. Existing governmental infrastructure seems to be holding in these first days, but the potential for political tension turning into sectarian violence is high. Syria is awash with weapons and Christians are not viewed as neutrals.  

No choice 

In the northern city of Aleppo, which had a significant Christian population, the community has long kept a low profile and, given the choice between the extreme authoritarianism of the Assad regime and life under jihadist rebels, they – unsurprisingly - saw a greater chance of survival under the former. This now leaves them particularly vulnerable to reprisals.  

HTS is a proscribed terrorist organisation that first emerged as an affiliate of al-Qaeda 

In 2015, when the al-Nusra Front and other jihadist groups controlled parts of Aleppo, the Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, Jean-Clement Jeanbart, spoke out about the large-scale murder and abduction of Christians which was happening there:  “If nothing is done, it is not impossible that all the Christians in Syria may be wiped out…There is a fundamental threat to Christianity from Islamic State. They have killed plenty of us. There is an existential crisis.” 

HTS are not Islamic State, but it is not clear what they will become. Are we witnessing a jihadist-inspired takeover which will transition to a free, democratic Syria? If that were to happen, it would be a first for the region.  

Syria is now under the control of a jihadist group with a similar ideology to al-Qaeda and a very recent record of atrocities against Christians. The country’s dwindling but faithful community of believers are now in potentially great danger.