The bombing on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria, last month that killed over two dozen people is a sign that Syria’s Islamist-led authorities under President Ahmad al‑Sharaa are enabling radicalism that threatens the existence of Syria’s Christian community, experts warn.
The June 22 bombing of the Greek Orthodox church serves as a “brutal reminder” of the presence of radicalized jihadi groups in Syria that seek to eliminate Christians from the country, in accordance with Jeff King, president of the United States-based watchdog group International Christian Concern.
The incident was the deadliest attack on Syria’s Christian community for the reason that 1860 Damascus Massacre, with advocates saying it serves as a reminder of “Christianity’s increasingly perilous existence in its ancient homeland.”
Speaking with The Christian Post, King condemned al-Sharaa and his administration, who rose to power after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied militant groups toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, for being unable or unwilling to guard Syrian Christians as the brand new government secures its foothold of power.
“This so-called administration, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s rebranded jihadists with roots in al-Qaeda and [Islamic State], offers hole condolences while failing to curb extremist militias and rogue cells targeting minorities,” King said in an announcement.
“Radical Islam, each inside the federal government’s ranks and thru independent actors like ISIS remnants, seeks the overall eradication of Christianity in Syria.”
The bombing on the Mar Elias Church took place during a Sunday morning prayer service. The assailant entered the constructing and opened fire on the congregation before detonating an explosive vest.
Following a preliminary investigation, the Syrian government said that the Islamic State [also known as IS or ISIS] was chargeable for the bombing. In his June 23 address, President al-Sharaa condemned the bombing as against the law against all Syrians. The crime was later claimed by the Islamic militant organization and HTS splinter group Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, which does not have an official affiliation with IS but has signaled an affinity for the group.
“This attack is but one step in that bloody campaign,” King told CP. “The world must reject the legitimacy of this jihadist cabal masquerading as a government and impose immediate international pressure to guard Syria’s nearly extinguished Christian population.”
The warning comes because the U.S. government, under the direction of President Donald Trump, has removed financial sanctions on Syria starting this month. Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department removed the fear designation for HTS, which was originally generally known as Jabhat al-Nusra and was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 2018. The group had been linked to widespread human rights abuses.
The terror designation revocation drew the ire of some Christian human rights advocates who say that HTS had previously killed Christians in Iraq and Syria before being rebranded for international acceptance for the reason that fall of Assad.
Brian Orme, president and CEO of Global Christian Relief, can also be concerned in regards to the failure of President al-Sharaa and his administration to guard historic Christian communities.
“While the leadership claims there can be freedom of faith, these assurances increasingly feel like empty words. This is just not an isolated incident but a part of a broader pattern where Christians remain vulnerable to targeted violence and intimidation,” Orme told CP.
“We must also remember to wish for the Church in Syria — for his or her protection, for real freedom to worship without fear, and for the longer term of Christians within the region,” Orme added.
After HTS and Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad’s regime in December, the rebels met with Christian leaders and church representatives, making guarantees to defend religious freedom.
Earlier this 12 months, King warned that HTS, which is made up of former IS and Al Qaeda fighters, was attempting to “rebrand” to look nonthreatening. As the ICC president noted, HTS fighters who’ve targeted Christians up to now, which makes their promise to guard Christians ring hole.
Following the newest attack against the Mar Elias Church, King declared Syria’s Christians and the country’s residents need to live in peace and security after a long time of what he described as “oppression and deprivation.”
“President al-Sharaa must speak out for his country’s religious minorities and acknowledge the continued persecution there,” the ICC president said.
During a funeral service on June 24, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John (X) Yazigi, a top Syrian Christian leader, demanded motion as an alternative of sympathy from President al-Sharaa. Yazigi delivered these remarks to mourners gathered on the Church of the Holy Cross, where nine of the bombing victims were laid to rest.
The Christian leader rebuked al-Sharaa for expressing his condolences by phone, in accordance with Reuters. Yazigi also blamed the present administration for the bombing on the church in Damascus, which he said was a direct consequence of presidency failure.
“What is very important to me — and I’ll say it — is that the federal government bears responsibility in full,” Yazigi said.
Richard Ghazal, the chief director of the Washington-based advocacy group In Defense of Christians, warns that Christians in Syria — with an ever-shrinking population — face an “existential crisis.”
“With every suicide bombing, every desecrated church, every community exodus, Syria edges closer to losing a two-millennia-old spiritual and cultural pillar,” Ghazal wrote in an op-ed for The Hill this week.
Before the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Christians comprised about 10% (2 million) of the Syrian population and co-existed with Muslim neighbors. Today, fewer than 300,000 Christians remain in Syria, Ghazal stressed.
In response to the June 22 church attack, Ghazal says the U.S. government must put pressure on the Syrian transitional government to prosecute the perpetrators and “implement robust security measures to guard the country’s Christian communities.” Specifically, IDC wants the U.S. government to have interaction in “measured diplomatic relations” and require “security guarantees” and “constitutional protections” for minorities.
Without U.S. engagement, Ghazal believes there’s a risk of making a “vacuum” that may only empower extremists.
“A Syria without Christians isn’t any longer a distant hypothetical scenario,” he wrote. “It is a rapidly approaching reality which the world cannot afford. The Christian presence in Syria is a thread within the broader tapestry of human civilization. If that thread is plucked, the entire tapestry frays.”
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