Syrian Christians Face New Threat of Genocide from Muslim Jihadists

Persecution watchers urge Christian aid agencies to “prepare for a massive relief operation”

One of the world’s oldest Christian communities is facing extermination from jihadists, as Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda have seized the Syrian city of Aleppo –home to an estimated 3.5 million people, including more than 50,000 Christians.

While Aleppo has seen a mass exodus of some 200,000 Christians in the past 12 years, the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of large parts of the city on Sunday, prompting warnings from persecution watchers of a fresh “religious cleansing” of Christians.

“It looks like we are now heading for another major crisis for Syrian Christians,” Dr. Martin Parsons, director of The Lindisfarne Centre for the Study of Christian Persecution, told The Stream. “Christian aid agencies need to prepare for a massive relief operation.”

“Effective and Deadly” Muslim Militants

Parsons explained that HTS is a direct affiliate of Al Qaeda set up under the name of the Jabhat al-Nusra Front in 2011 with the help of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

The BBC described HTS as “one of the most effective and deadly of the groups” ranged against Syria’s President Bashir al-Assad, driven primarily by “jihadist ideology” rather than “revolutionary zeal.”

The Iraqi Christian Foundation warned on its X account that

Syrian Christians in #Aleppo, #Syria, are in grave danger from the invading demonic #AlQaeda/#ISIS terrorists who have already begun removing all Christmas decorations and beheading captured soldiers.

Western Media are cheering on the terrorists and calling them by the propaganda term ‘rebels.’ Please pray for our fellow Christians and other minorities in harm’s way in Syria.

“Christians of Aleppo have fled to the Kurdish neighbourhoods where the Kurds, even the elderly women, are taking up arms to defend Kurds and Christians,” Middle Eastern researcher and peace advocate Hemdad Mehristani reported.

“Unfortunately, ethnic cleansing of Kurds and religious minorities is currently taking place in Aleppo. Tens of thousands of its Kurdish, Armenian, and Assyrian population are forced out of the city by the Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists of Turkey,” Crisis Watch confirmed.

Targeting Christians

Jihadist groups that are dominant in the Syrian opposition have been specifically targeting Christians nationwide — beginning with the abduction of Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Aleppo, and Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Syria, who were kidnapped during a humanitarian trip in April 2013.

“No one knows who abducted them, but suspicion fell on the Jabhat al-Nusra Front — who are now HTS — the group [that] just seized large parts of Aleppo,” Parsons, a former aid worker to Afghanistan and an expert on Islamic theology, noted.

“Both Islamic State and other jihadist groups massacred and abducted large numbers of Christians. Churches were systematically destroyed in an attempt to religiously cleanse whole areas of Syria of its non-Muslim population,” he told The Stream.

“Islamic State also reimplemented aspects of shari’a allowing the enslavement of non-Muslims — and produced a slave prince list with different values for different age Yazidi and Christian women.”

Tenth Anniversary of ISIS Genocide

In August, the U.S. State Department released a statement marking the “10th Anniversary of ISIS’s Genocide Against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.”

While the U.S. government estimates that 10% of the Syrian population is Christian, of the 2.2 million Christians who lived in the country prior to the civil war, Open Doors USA estimates that only approximately 579,000 remain (2.8 % of the population).

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Most Christians belong to Orthodox churches, like the Syriac Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic churches such as the Maronite Church, or the Assyrian Church of the East and other Nestorian churches.

“Many of the Christians in Aleppo are descendants of the victims of the Armenian and Assyrian genocides (1915-23) when up to three million Christians are estimated to have been killed,” the Lindisfarne Centre explained.

“During that time the Ottoman government forced Christians living in what is now Turkey on a ‘death march’ into the Syrian desert during which vast numbers died of starvation, murder, or rape at the hands of Kurdish militias,” it added.

“Providing accurate statistics on the number of Christians in most Middle Eastern countries is notoriously difficult,” Parsons acknowledged.

Christians Living in “Limbo”

Vincent Gelot, the Lebanon and Syria project manager for L’Œuvre d’Orient, a Catholic aid organization that assists Eastern Christians, said that while “there were around 150,000 Christians in Aleppo in 2011, today only 20,000 to 25,000 remain.”

“We have no idea what might happen next. For Christians, time is suspended,” a local clergyman, speaking on condition of anonymity, told French Catholic media La Croix International. “But this is just the beginning,” he warned.

“Between 500 and 1,000 Christians are trapped on the roads,” Carla, a 34-year-old Syrian Christian who works with the NGO Hope Center to organize the reception of displaced people in Syrian parishes, told La Croix International.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, has reported a staggering death toll of over 400, including 214 insurgents. The group also confirmed that the offensive was coordinated from Turkey.

Maronite Archbishop of Aleppo Joseph Tobji described the situation as being in “limbo,” noting that the militants took over after a surprise offensive. “Life here started up again. The situation was calm, but now everything is closed.

“The army has left Aleppo and the city is now in the hands of the opposition militias. There are rumors about the arrival of Syrian army troops, but nothing is certain. We live in uncertainty,” he said.

Parsons, who has been actively campaigning for asylum for displaced Christians, agreed.

“When this happened 10 years ago, hardly any Syrian Christians were recommended by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees to the U.K.’s Syrian refugee scheme, despite being specifically targeted,” he said.

“We are now facing a potentially similar crisis. Will the world simply look the other way?”

Christianity has existed in Syria since New Testament times. Jesus’s followers were first called Christians in Syrian Antioch (Acts 11:26). Paul lived and taught in Syrian Antioch for 14 years (Galatians 1:21-2:1). He suffered abuse in Antioch of Pisidia, well west of Syria (2 Timothy 3:11). Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was martyred in Rome at the end of the first century.

Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.