Christians confront ‘end of history’ in post-Assad Syria

Damascus capitulated early Sunday to Syrian opposition fighters, led by a former ISIS ally, after they waged a military offensive against the Assad regime less than two weeks ago. Their blazing march to the Syrian capital ended a 13-year civil war, which has claimed over 500,000 lives, and the 54-year rule of a political dynasty that left behind a “human slaughterhouse,” a bureaucracy on stand still, and a warehouse full of luxury cars–testament to the billions they’ve looted from a populace where 90% live below the poverty line.

The State of Israel, whose military actions helped usher the stunning development, cleared the deadly arsenal of former dictator Bashar Al-Assad, lest it fall into the hands of groups who consider killing Jews a form of divine obedience.

The Israeli sentiment guiding the preemptive measure is related to the fears and insecurities of Christians in the Sunni Muslim-majority country, as they face an uncertain future in the hands of Islamists, who, sans the miracle of their pledging allegiance to the tenets of democracy as we know it (in a pre-Trump second term at least) and embracing a rules-based international order, faces extinction in the Cradle of Civilization.

“We are really tired. We are really exhausted,” Father Jacques Mourad, the Archbishop of Homs, told the official news outlet of the Pontifical Missions Society on Dec. 3, “we are also finished in every sense.” The Syrian Catholic priest who was kidnapped by ISIS in 2015 spoke to the outlet around a week into the rebel forces’ campaign and days after his hometown and the country’s largest city Aleppo was captured by anti-government forces, the largest of which is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Organization for the Liberation of the Levant) or HTS.

“The Christians of Aleppo will be convinced that they cannot stay in Aleppo,” said Mourad, “In Aleppo they are trying to bring about the end of the rich, magnificent and unique history of the Christians of Aleppo.”

Luke Moon who heads The Philos Project, a Christian group advocating for pluralism in the Middle East, said “the coming days will be pivotal for Syria’s Christians.” Moon, noted in a tweet, that Christians were safe among Syria’s minorities—Kurds, Druze and Alawi, where the former ruling dictator belongs—but those between Homs and the Mediterrenean “will be especially vulnerable.”

The area called Wadi al-Nasara or the Valley of the Christians is where many Greek Christians have sought refuge after fleeing cities and villages seized by jihadists. It is was captured by rebel forces on Dec. 7.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the 42-year-old leader of HTS who was born Ahmed al-Sharaa led a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda until 2016, but “has refuted extremism and presented himself as more moderate,” noted Barnabas Aid, an international aid agency advocating for and supporting persecuted Christians, in a blog entry.

In a Washington Post profile, Jolani is portrayed as a pragmatic leader who’s “willing to shift gears as circumstances change” and is in his “Zelensky era,” trading Islamist insurgent outfit to a green military uniform. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is renowned for donning a similar outfit. In an interview with CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh after his faction’s victory in Aleppo, Jolani acknowledged  minorities’ fears, fueled by experience, when Islamists lead.

“No one has the right to erase another group,” Jolani told CNN. “These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them. There must be a legal framework that protects and ensures the rights of all, not a system that serves only one sect, [which] Assad’s regime has done.”

The millennial leader also spoke of a Syria as a “state of governance, institutions” and HTS as “merely one detail of this dialogue, and it may dissolve at any time,” referring to the country’s rebuilding.

But in the same blog post, Barnabas Aid cited a BBC report where Al-Qaeda is urging the victorious rebels to now turn on “Jews and Crusaders,” referring to all Christians. There’s also a video circulating on social media where rebels inside a Mosque vow to march on Jerusalem.

“This is the land of Islam, this is Damascus, the Muslim stronghold. From here to Jerusalem. We’re coming for Jerusalem. Patience, people of Gaza, patience,” said one of the rebels, whose affiliation amongst the Syrian opposition forces is unknown.

Oppressed and displaced by a leader who, in the name of preserving his hold on power, worked with foreign forces to butcher his own people, Syrians are right to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime. But as Arab Spring history informs, jubilations after a despot’s fall from grace are short-lived.

“A power struggle could erupt among the different factions nationwide,” noted a spot analysis of the Carnegie Endowment of Peace on the situation, which proffers a gloomy forecast of the future. “Regardless, Syria is likely to remain weak and preoccupied with internal struggles for the foreseeable future. The country’s vulnerability to foreign interference will further complicate its recovery and stabilization.”

Speaking to Uzay Bulut of The European Conservative, Rafael Mikhail of The Levantine Greek Association and who is raising awareness on the plight of all Christians in the country, reminds the public of what Syrian Christians had experienced under Islamists’ leadership.

“For now, it seems they are still alive, but the last time the city of Aleppo was besieged, they were targeted and killed,” he said, adding that evacuation for Christians maybe necessary. There have not been reports of reprisal in Aleppo.

“Mainstream media has always claimed they are ‘moderate rebels’ when in fact we know they are neither moderate nor rebels,” Mikhail told Bulut, “They are the same militants that beheaded women and children, just rebranded with new names. These people want a theocratic country.”