Syrian Christians Attend Sunday Services for First Time Since Assad’s Fall
Syrian Christians attended regular Sunday services for the first time since the dramatic overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, in an early test of assurances by the new Islamist rulers that the rights of minorities will be protected.
As the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept to power last week, it sought to reassure Syria’s minority groups that their way of life would not be at risk. Before Assad fell, historic religious minority groups, including Christians, worshipped freely and some remain jittery at the prospect of an Islamist government.
Streets in the heavily Christian Damascus neighbourhood of Bab Touma filled with worshippers returning from church on Sunday morning, but some struck a note of caution. “We’re scared, we’re still scared,” said local resident Maha Barsa after attending Mass at the local Greek Melkite Catholic church.
In the coastal city of Latakia, long an Assad stronghold, Lina Akhras, a parish council secretary at the St George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, said on Sunday that Christians had been “comfortable” under his rule in terms of freedom of belief but that they just wanted to live in peace and harmony.
Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious minorities including Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Shi’ite Muslims. The Assad family itself belongs to the minority Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, in Sunni Muslim-majority Syria.
Tens of thousands of mostly Shi’ite Muslims have fled Syria for Lebanon in the last week out of fear of persecution by the country’s new rulers, a senior Lebanese security official told Reuters last week.
The protection of Syria’s minorities was a key concern on Saturday when top diplomats from Arab nations, Turkey, the United States and European Union met in Jordan. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they backed an inclusive and representative government that would respect minority rights and not offer “a base for terrorist groups”.
Syrian students also returned to classrooms on Sunday after the new rulers ordered schools reopened in another potent sign of some normalcy. The country’s new de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, faces a massive challenge to rebuild Syria after the civil war, in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
As Syria starts trying to rebuild, its neighbours and other foreign powers are still working out a new stance on the country, a week after the collapse of the Assad government that was backed by Iran and Russia. U.N. Syria envoy Geir Pedersen said on Sunday he hoped for a swift end to the sanctions to help facilitate economic recovery.