LATAKIA, Syria (BP) – The number of Christians killed in the March 6 Alawite uprising and responsive attacks through March 9 is still unclear, but Christians have suffered collateral losses in sectarian violence that continues, Global Christian Relief (GCR) told Baptist Press.
“I’m conversing with my partners,” GCR Acting Chief Executive Brian Orme said March 17, “to find out the exact numbers of Christians across these coastal communities who were killed in those insurgencies.”
Christians have suffered increasing persecution under Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Orme said, who ousted Assad while leading Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, classified in 2014 by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist group.
“We’ve seen a rise in Christian persecution and seen a number of people killed, churches that were ransacked, many, many threats were given,” Orme said. “Those layered into the fact that we know there’s a drive against the minority groups in Syria and that Alawite insurgency inflamed everything, and Christians were caught in that. This attack for many of those in the coastal plains was layered on top of discrimination.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights raised its civilian death toll from the violence to 1,557 on March 17, while the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a primary Syrian statistical source for the United Nations, documented extrajudicial killings of 1,034.
Violence continues as Kurdish Syrians protested March 15 against a temporary constitution signed by President al-Sharaa that retains Islamist jurisprudence as the main basis of law and promises to protect the rights of all Syrians.
“We don’t accept this constitution. We want a constitution for all Syrians – Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians because we have shed a lot of blood on this land,” a protestor identified as Fatima Ibrahim told WIO News. “We will not accept the new constitution. Everyone must be represented in it.”
The source of a blast in Latakia that killed at least three people and injured a dozen others since the constitution was signed had not been determined, WIO News reported after the event, and the blast’s relation to the sectarian violence was not explicitly stated.
It’s unclear how Christians will fare under the temporary constitution, Orme said. Syria has had a complicated past with many leaders giving lip service regarding pledged equality.
“There’s not confidence in leadership,” he said. “But of course, you have someone who was just on the terrorist list a short time ago who is leading the country. And so there’s a sense of, he’s giving all the right words … to gain support across the world … but I think this recent attack over the weekend shows that so far, he’s not able to control different factions. Even if they’re giving allegiance to him, he doesn’t have the authority yet to control them.”
The Christian population has dwindled during the civil war from a high of 2 million at its start. But the current number of Christians ranging between 300,000 and 500,000 fluctuates and is difficult is gauge, Orme said. He estimates Christians comprise 5 to 6 percent of Syria’s 24 million people. Evangelicals are among Christians there, but are a much smaller group than Orthodox.
Many Christians have fled to the mountains for safety, Orme said, and GCR has identified more than 1,000 displaced families to help with emergency relief.
Christians were also persecuted under Assad, but at varying degrees and in pockets, Orme said.
Despite that, Orthodox and evangelical Christians are seeing growth, he said.
“We’re seeing new believers come to know the Gospel,” he said. “It’s a smaller wave of underground, smaller churches, evangelical sects that are seeing growth. And I think that’s why we are passionate about wanting to stand with both the Orthodox and evangelical churches to give them strength, let them know they’re not alone, and empower them to be a light.”