The fears of Samir Nassar, head of the Catholic-Maronite community of Damascus, for the new government led by former fundamentalist militiamen.
«A young couple, with a very small child in my arms, came to me and asked me if in Syria there is still the hope of being able to live a quiet life despite being Christians. I caressed the little girl, whom I had baptized a few weeks ago, and I told my young brothers that hope must always be there, but that if they have a chance far from Syria, perhaps they must take advantage of it for the future of the little girl ».
Are the words full of sadness that Samir NassarCatholic-Maronite arcieparca of Damascus, entrusts to Panorama. He is a corpulent man of almost 75 years who continues to issue an aura of serenity and trust towards his neighbor not yet canceled by the difficulties that his flock of believers has experienced in the last half century. And with recent events, the Christian community that has about 500 thousand believers (2 percent of the population) is increasingly frightened.
In Syria, the Assad regime collapsed in 11 days and on 8 December 2024 a sign of movements led by the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has conquered the Damascus capital by appointing a new government led by its leader, Ahmad Husayn al-Sharaafirst known as Abu Muhammad Al-Jolani. The army has practically no resistance, often going to swell the rows of the Islamists.
“Under Assad’s regime, Christians were tolerated, but only if they never raised the voice,” he says Nassar. “But now we cannot understand what we expect, in Damascus and in all of Syria the situation is very confused and violence has not stopped even after the settlement of the new government”.
In the regions of the North, who have already experienced the government of fundamentalists, there would have been several episodes of violence towards Christians, but the archieparca Nassar It tells that even in the south the situation is quickly degenerating. “For the moment in Damascus there have been no physical attacks on Christians, they know well that the capital is under the eye of the world, but there are men who note the names of those who participate in our religious functions and outside the churches are sheds of people with long beards who organize improvised sit-in for the new government. Some faithful have decided not to participate in the functions anymore. We Christians are part of the history of Syria, we arrived here centuries before Islam and have been living with Muslims for years »continues the archbishop. «Yes, under the Assad life was not easy, but during the civil war we became a goal of fundamentalists. Many of those who threw the tunic and worn jacket and tie see us as infidels to be eliminated or converted by force. Violence and extreme poverty have forced millions of Christians to abandon Syria, now we hope they can go home. The fact that the penalties have been removed is very positive and will certainly improve the situation, but we must all be able to start together from mutual tolerance, facts and not words are needed ».
The Patriarch Damasceno lives in fear that violence ramps, but in the northern provinces there were episodes that photograph the great hypocrisy of this “New Syria”, the last of which in Homs, where at the beginning of June someone shot against the cross raised on the facade of the Siro-Orthodox cathedral of Santa Maria della Cintura Sacra. On the other hand, in Homs, fundamentalists have already arrested those who took the swimsuit in the costume, as the Siro-Catholic archbishop said Jacques Mouradby imposing a code of conduct that plans to wear burkini and not allowing women to participate in the initiatives of the Church.
Difficult to think of a country with less tensions, given that the new president Ahmad Husayn al-Sharaa He played both in the Islamic State and in Al Qaeda founding at Nusra, the Syrian branch of the Osama Bin Laden terrorist network. In 2017 he created Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, softening his position, but only theoretically, because in the areas under his control we continued to apply the shak. The United States had included him on the list of terrorists, putting a 10 million dollar size on his head. These reward was suitably abolished on December 21, 2024, when Al-Sharaa had already become the master of Syria.
In short, a dangerous man, but to whom Samir Nassar He wants to try to give credit as the western countries gave him. «Syria is historically a model of coexistence between very different ethnic groups, religions and peoples and this has always been our true wealth. I don’t want to think of a Syria without Christians, it would be a country that would lose its roots and its history. The new Al-Sharaa president has defined the Christians “brothers” and wants to participate in society, but in the north we witness many acts of violence against our community. The Syrian people are 75 percent Muslim, but they are not linked to a traditional Islam, therefore the anti-Christian feelings come from those who preach extremism. The archbishop of Homs Jacques Mourad in 2015 was kidnapped by the militants of the Islamic State, with a hundred faithful, remaining prisoner for months. Today Mourad declares that it still fears for the Christians of Homs and that they are organizing events where males and females are separated for fear of retaliation. In Aleppo, for years under control of ISIS, the situation is even worse because there are armed militias that dominate, the same ones who used children-solved children. During the Easter holidays, our community was able to organize the celebrations and this was a sign that gives us hope. A positive news was also the abolition of mandatory military service that had made millions of terrified young people flee. “
In the facts, however, after a few months of relative calm, the rendering of the accounts began and the Alawites were struck with force, the Shiite minority to which the Assad belonged. After false words of peace and concord, the Al-Sharaa government bombed this area by mainly affecting civilians. In the attacks on the Alawiti region, not even Christians have been spared who have seen entire families and prelates massacre as in the case of Yohann Yousef Boutrospriest of the church of Sant’Elia a Tartus.
Even more painful the story concerning Fares Bassam Kawifirst forced to walk on four legs and then assassinated. The war against Assad’s loyalists was an excuse to hunt the Christians of this region.
The Alawiti were only the first objective of the extremists who subsequently started to target the Druse, a minority also present in Lebanon and Israel, while in Syria it has a population of about 500 thousand people. The clashes with the Druse militias have left hundreds of deaths on the field by triggering the reaction of Israel who said he was ready to intervene. According to the Syrian Observatory for human rights in the last six months more than 7 thousand people killed, including 6 thousand civilians, in the areas under control of the new government. An extremely precarious balance that has not prevented the new president from meeting the big names of western powers.
In September the former Qaedista will speak to the United Nations, but continues to persecute the minorities. “In recent weeks there have been many episodes of violence towards the Druse and Alawites, but I fear that clashes are used to deliberately kill Christians,” he explains Pensieroso Samir Nassar. «At the moment Al-Sharaa seems more interested in crediting internationally than in creating a company respectful of the differences, also because I doubt that the support of Turkey or the monarchies of the gulf would be less if the Christian minority was persecuted, and this scares us. However, I want to thank the new Pope Leone XIV Pope who for the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches has reiterated his closeness to our Church ».
