Masked Gunmen Burn Christmas Tree in Syria

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12/27/2024 Syria (International Christian Concern) — Hundreds of Syrian Christians protested in response to the public burning of a Christmas tree in Al-Suqaylabiyah, a Greek Orthodox Christian city near the country’s western coastline. Videos and reports indicate that the perpetrators kept observers and firefighters at bay while the stories-high artificial tree burned in the main square.

The incident has raised concerns among Syrian Christians leading up to Christmas, a Christian holiday that often sparks increased persecution for vulnerable Christian communities around the world.

While Christmas trees stand as a ubiquitous symbol of the holiday season in many parts of the world, the Al-Suqaylabiyah tree broadcasted a specifically Christian message in Syria, where Islamist rebels recently overthrew the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. While the victorious rebels, led by the group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have declared that they will respect religious freedom and encouraged Christians to celebrate Christmas freely, many militant groups remain active that do not answer to HTS, and some analysts have expressed doubt as to HTS’s long-term commitment to human rights and religious freedom.

Some observers were surprised at the orders to protect religious minorities. Still, initial skepticism was met with peace in Christian neighborhoods of Aleppo, and fighters are reported to have gone house-to-house repeating assurances of tolerance in the days leading up to the fall of the Assad regime. In videos circulating online in early December, a Christmas tree was visible in a marketplace located in a predominantly Christian area of the city after the rebel takeover.

According to reports, Christian leaders in Syria are calling for scaled-back Christmas celebrations despite HTS assurances.
On Dec. 18, militants fired on a Greek Orthodox church in Hama, located just 31 miles from Al-Suqaylabiyah. The militants reportedly damaged a cross and several headstones in the church compound.

Other anti-Christian incidents have been reported around the country, though Bishop Andrew Bahhi of St George’s Syriac Orthodox Church told media that HTS responded rapidly to multiple incidents and arrested the perpetrators.

HTS has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States since 2018 after it split from al-Qaida. HTS’s predecessor organization, Jabhat al-Nusra, was similarly designated and was founded in 2011 by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, who today is the leader of HTS.

Even in this earlier form, al-Sharaa and his group were always focused on opposing the Assad regime — a significant fact as it created an early emphasis on nationalism rather than simply jihadism. In the years since, the group has continued to heavily emphasize its political aspirations in Syria, at times over broader themes of jihadism. Though statements by al-Sharaa do sometimes hint at the broader aims of a global Islamic caliphate, HTS has, in recent years, instead focused its rhetoric on establishing rule over Syria and expelling pro-Assad Iranian influence from the country.

Al-Sharaa’s early years as a militant were spent fighting for the Islamic State group in Iraq. When, after eight years as an Islamic State fighter, he returned to Syria in 2011, it was as a representative of Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his vision of global jihad and a worldwide Islamic caliphate. Still, HTS represents a break from that ideology in favor of Syrian nationalism, and the group has fought against al-Qaida and Islamic State influence in Syria in recent years.

In recent days, al-Sharaa has worked to project an image of relative tolerance and acceptance for Christians and other religious minorities, including Shiite Muslims.

“Diversity is our strength, not a weakness,” al-Sharaa declared in an edict upon capturing Aleppo en route to Damascus. His appeal appeared to be for a united Syria and a broad-based future for the country.

In areas held by HTS in recent years, it allowed a degree of freedom, according to some reports. The group, for example, has permitted smoking and other practices that are prohibited under a more fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Other sources, though, report that HTS consistently harassed and detained all who were critical of the group or strayed from their religious doctrine, lax as that might be.

Recent days do not suggest Syria is entering a new period of interfaith tolerance or widespread religious freedom. Reports from the capture of Damascus include incidents of rebels inquiring into the religious identity of residents, suggesting that religion may continue to act as a point of tension.

While al-Sharaa’s immediate focus is to set up a functioning government and is thus motivated to bring as many communities as possible into cooperation, he is still an avowed proponent of the Salafi-jihadist ideology. He has much deeper roots as a persecutor of religion than a promoter of its free practice.

As the international community watches to see what type of government will replace the Assad regime, hundreds of thousands of religious minorities in Syria are watching, too. For them, the new government’s respect for religious freedom is an intensely personal unknown. Should al-Sharaa continue to signal support for the rights of Christians and others, that would be a fundamental shift for the better. But that outcome is far from guaranteed, and a reversion to his old ways under Islamic State and al-Qaida would be disastrous for these already vulnerable communities that suffered so much under Assad.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email [email protected]. 



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