THE rebel alliance which has brought down the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad with lightning speed has sought to reassure the Christian community by broadcasting messages of tolerance for religious minorities; but recent history has left many distrustful.
Members of the alliance — the dominant faction of which is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani — which topped the regime in the surprise offensive last week met with a group of bishops in Aleppo, the first city to fall, to reassure them.
Damascus fell to the rebels on Sunday, and President Assad fled, and was granted asylum in Moscow.
The Apostolic Nuncio to Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, said: “Thank God this transition happened without bloodshed, without the carnage that was feared. Now the path ahead is steep — those who have taken power have promised to respect everyone and to build a new Syria. We hope they will keep these promises, but, of course, the road ahead remains very difficult.
“The rebels met with the bishops in Aleppo immediately after their victory, assuring them that they would respect the various religious denominations and Christians. We hope they will keep this promise and move toward reconciliation.”
A Christian who wished to remain anonymous told the news agency AFP: “To our great surprise, the behaviour of the new occupiers of Aleppo is completely different from what we expected.
“All the speeches they give are to say that they are not here to make us suffer. They are here to help us. They say, ‘All we want is to overthrow Assad’s regime.’”
The end of the Assad regime has been greeted with joy by Syrians — including those from religious minorities — both in the country and those who seeking asylum elsewhere as a result of the bloody violence and persecution carried out by the Ba’athist regime.
HTS originated in Islamic State, but broke away in 2017 and has been ruling the north-western province of Idlib since then. In a rare interview with CNN last week, al-Julani spoke to reassure Syria’s minority Alawites and Christians: “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.”
HTS is designated a banned terror group. Sir Keir Starmer said that it was too early to consider a change of policy. He said: “We have all seen in other parts of history where we think there is a turning point — it turns out not necessarily to be the better future that we hope for. We’ve got to make sure this is different.”
Separately, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, told the House of Commons that the UK “will judge HTS by their actions, monitoring closely how they and other parties to this conflict treat all civilians in areas they control”.
Christians in Syria numbered around 1.5 million — approximately ten per cent of the population — before the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, but the number has since dropped sharply. Estimates vary, but there are thought to be around 300,000 left in the country today. Most Syrian Christians are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Syria Orthodox Church, or the Catholic Church. There are also a minority of Protestants.
Many agencies supporting religious minorities are cautious of HTS’s promises of tolerance for minorities, citing its bloody recent history. Alawites, a minority Muslim sect, were told in 2015 by al-Julani that they would receive mercy only if they renounced their religion.
International Christian Concern said that the coming days and weeks “will be crucial for the fate of the Christian community. . . Christians, with roots stretching back nearly two millennia, now face and uncertain and perilous future.”
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) also warned: “HTS’s ideology and history give religious minorities in Aleppo serious reasons to doubt these promises.”
CSI’s International President, John Eibner, said: “Having used jihadists as a tool of choice for undermining the Assad regime, the US and their allies now bear a special responsibility for the human-rights situation in Syria in the aftermath of the jihadist victory.”
At least 120 churches and Christian places of worship were destroyed in the civil war from 2011, and Christians suffered severe persecution and violence during the brief years when IS controlled parts of Syria. A Roman Catholic priest, Fr Francois Murad, was shot dead, and, in 2013, the Syria Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo were kidnapped, believed dead.
One of the immediate challenges facing the rebel alliance is the country’s humanitarian crisis; almost 70 per cent of Syrians in need of urgent aid, World Vision said.
The situation in the country remains extremely fluid. Israel began air strikes on Tuesday night, which it said were to stop extremists getting hold of weapons. Syria is alleged by some to still have a chemical weapons programme.