A Damascus chapel. Photo courtesy of Dianne Ket/Pixabay.
By HANY GHORABA
JNS
The sudden collapse in December of the long-standing Bashar Assad regime in Syria, unleashed a wave of trouble for most Syrians, with the exception of Islamists and their extremist supporters across the country. With the rise of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammad al-Julani (aka Ahmed al-Sharaa), as the de facto leader of Syria, one group that is facing an existential threat is the Christian population.
Julani was named “interim” president of Syria on Jan. 29 after he announced the dissolution of the parliament, the constitution and the army.
Threats Continue
Christmas and New Year’s celebrations this year were widely portrayed by Western media as a hopeful sign for a civil-war-torn Syria, particularly for its minorities. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Christians and other minorities in Syria who suffered a horrendous ordeal in nearly 14 years of civil war continue to face existential threats with the Christian population being particularly vulnerable. A new wave of violence has been unleashed, marked by attacks on churches by so-called “rebel forces,” who are an amalgam of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood jihadists from across the world.
Targets
One of these attacks took place on Dec. 19, when a group of terrorists stormed a Roman Orthodox church in Ham in western Syria. They destroyed its contents, including crosses and statues of the Virgin Mary.
In a chilling video, one terrorist declares: “In the name of Allah the almighty, none shall be worshipped in the Levant except Allah and only the rule of Allah will prevail, and no statues or idols will be worshipped from now on, God willing. We will accept nothing but Allah, the religion of Allah and the Sunna of Mohammad the son of Abdullah.” He then proceeded to smash a statue of the Virgin Mary on the ground and shouted Allahu Akbar! (Arabic for “God is great!).
Another act of vandalism occurred on Dec. 23 when the Abbey of St. Mar Charbel in Homs was targeted; images have been circulating on social media.
Moreover, some Syrian Christians are facing death and evacuation threats despite assurances to the contrary. One video recorded on Jan. 9 shows a Muslim family throwing stones and objects at a Christian family and then destroys their car. Someone in the video can be heard asking the family if they are Christian.
Similar attacks and daylight robberies on Christian homes were reported in December. One such incident can be seen in a video posted to X on Dec. 18. In the video, an elderly woman and her family can be seen pleading with authorities, describing how they were robbed at gunpoint.
On Dec. 24, a group of radicals set fire to a large Christmas tree in broad daylight. In response, hundreds of Christians, joined by some Muslims, staged a protest against these assaults on their religious symbols.
The violence is even taking place on public transportation. In a video posted to X on Jan. 16, Christian and Alawite Muslim citizens are targeted, arrested and beaten by men in military uniforms.
Syria is home to many Christian denominations. These communities have faced relentless attacks from jihadist groups for more than a decade. In 2013, some 50,000 Syrian Christians sought Russian citizenship to escape the violence targeting their homes and places of worship.
According to social media, areas with significant Christian populations, such as Bab Toma in old Damascus, get attacked daily. Another post on X on Jan. 17 along with a video of several incidents: “Unfortunately, Islamist extremists’ storm Christian areas on a daily basis to impose Islam by force, unfortunately. The situation is getting worse.”
Pipe Dream Or Lie?
After the ousting of former Assad, the Turkish-backed terrorist group Ansar al-Sham, led by Julani, claimed that it is seeking to unite all Syrians and ensure the safety and inclusion of minorities.
“We are working to protect sects and minorities from any attacks, whether they come from within or external forces attempting to exploit the situation to stir sectarian discord,” said Julani during a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. “Syria is a country for all, and we must coexist peacefully,” he added.
On Dec. 31, he met with leaders of Syrian Christian churches and other minorities in a theatrical display promising to protect them—ironically from his own troops, who have continued to target these communities through the years. In 2018, Al Nusra Front, the previous name of HTS, forced Christians to evacuate their homes in the areas they controlled in the city of Idlib.
In a Speech on Jan. 1, Patriarch John X of Antioch, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, criticized the new regime. “We have extended our hand to work with you (new government) to build a new Syria, but we are waiting for Sharaa and his administration to extend their hand to us,” he said. “Despite the media reporting the imminent convening of a comprehensive Syrian conference and other issues, there has been no official communication from them with us.”
Education For Jihadist Haven ?
Despite the theatrics, Julani’s regime remains a threat to the stability of the region, particularly with the newly approved Islamic educational curriculum. This curriculum is set to turn Syria into a jihadist haven.
The new educational curriculum doesn’t merely erase references to the old Assad regime and its flag, it changes phrases such as “Ottoman occupation” to “Ottoman rule,” which opens the door to increased Turkish Islamist influence in the country. It also removes content that Islamists deemed haram or forbidden by Islamic law, including references to card games, magicians and images of statues. The subject of “national education,” once taught in Syrian schools, has been completely omitted. Most concerning is the replacement of “world law” with Sharia law, as well as the omission of the theory of evolution and Chinese philosophy. The concept of martyrdom for the homeland has been replaced by martyrdom for Allah. These drastic changes are setting the stage for a future where the Syrian educational system becomes a breeding ground for extremism.
The documentation of the new curriculum was removed from the websites of the Ministry of Education and the Syria News Agency following an outrage upon its release on social media.
Syrian journalist Shiyar Khaleal warned: “An education based on extremist ideologies may produce individuals who hold ideas that threaten regional and international security. Changing curricula under the supervision of HTS is not just an educational danger, but a long-term threat to the social fabric and the future of Syria.”
The new Syrian regime also wasted no time in reconnecting with old jihadist allies from across the region. In December, Julani met with fugitive Egyptian terrorist Mahmoud Fathi, who is wanted in Egypt and received the death penalty for his role in the assassination of Egypt’s public prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, and at least three Egyptian citizens in a car bomb in 2015. Julani has issued a decree to allow “Arab fighters” into Syria.
While the media sometimes portrays Julani as a liberating hero who will save war-torn Syria, it hardly mentions that he is a key contributor to the destruction of the country and the killing of thousands of its citizens. Julani, appointed by the late Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as the group’s leader in the Levant, pledged allegiance to al-Zawahiri, distancing himself from ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
Western Delusions
Despite the ongoing war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, it’s rare to find any country or diplomat accurately describing the new Syrian regime, as it has been celebrated by Western media. The exception to this is Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who, on Dec. 28, realistically described the situation in Syria, stating, “The regime in Damascus is essentially a gang, not a legitimate government. Other areas, like Idlib, are controlled by Islamist groups with extreme ideologies.”
It is becoming sclear that these terrorists in power are responsible for many acts of barbarity. On Jan. 4, videos surfaced online of the newly appointed Minister of Justice Shadi al-Waisi overseeing the executions of women in public on Syrian streets to enforce his version of “Sharia” law. Julani has a dark history that seems to outweigh any rosy promises he makes, making Assad appear as a humanitarian activist in comparison.
A U.N. report by the Security Council from 2013 stated the following about the new darling of Western media:
“Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani (Julani) was listed on 24 July 2013… as being associated with Al-Qaida and other individuals, groups, undertakings or entities associated with Al-Qaida for ‘participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of,’ ‘supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to’ and ‘recruiting for’ Al-Qaida, Al-Qaida in Iraq (Aiman Muhammed Rabi al-Zawahiri and Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali Al-Badri Al-Samarrai.”
Even after allegedly cutting ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016, Julani and his group, HTS, continued to adhere to the Salafist jihadist ideology that is shared by Al-Qaeda and ISIS. HTS is just another side of the same coin.
No Comfort Expected
Despite this, the Turkish foreign minister was spewing nonsense to galvanize Turkey’s support for the terrorist-listed HTS for supposedly helping Ankara fight terrorism against Al-Qaeda and ISIS. However, HTS is merely another name for groups like Al-Nusra and Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham, “Conquering the Levant Front,” all of which are directly associated with Al-Qaeda and blessed by its former leader al-Zawahiri.
Julani’s song and dance about freedom, unity and the rest of the drivel he has been spewing since taking over from Assad can only cater to the naive and delusional. A terrorist regime usurping power aided by another terrorist-supporting regime in Ankara hardly makes room for peace in the future.
While everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of aiding the new terrorist-affiliated regime in Syria, it should be clear that darker skies are ahead for Christians, despite the sugarcoated words of tolerance by Julani and his hoodlums. The remaining Christian population in Syria remains hostages to the terrorist regime. Hence, the fall of Assad at the hands of cutthroat jihadists is not the end of Syria’s problems but a beginning of a new set of much deeper ones.
