Syrian Christians face new threats amid fall of Assad regime
Charmaine Hedding, founder of the Shai Fund, speaks with ALL ISRAEL NEWS about Christians and other minorities left vulnerable in the situation
The Assad regime fell harder and faster than even experts imagined it might. But where does that leave the Christians of Syria?
The watching world has been shocked at the speed at which the rebels under the leadership of Al-Jawlani overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including the rebels themselves. Jonathan Spyer, director of research at the Middle East Forum and writer for The Jerusalem Post, suggested that the insurgents have been “as surprised as the rest of us” by the swift fall of the Assad regime.
Spyer did not believe the events were the result of a Turkish master plan, but that the rebels were “kicking at a door and found it was rotten. Much more rotten than they had maybe envisaged.”
Christians and minority groups need our prayers with the rapidly changing situation leaving many in danger.
Syria has been unstable for many years because a minority group, the Alawi sect, led by Assad, was controlling the country by brutal force against the will of a large Sunni majority. Civil war broke out in 2011 and has never really ended, although fighting factions have been largely settled in three main areas:
The Assad regime, which until recently controlled 60% of Syria.
An enclave of Sunni rebels in northwest Syria which comprised just 10% of the country until recently, but is now rapidly expanding in every direction. These rebels are from two main groups: the Syrian National Army (SNA) and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of al-Qaeda founded by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
The Kurdish-controlled area in northeast Syria, situated east of the Euphrates River, holds 30% of the country. Known as the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (AANES), this self-proclaimed state is not recognized by anyone, but has been allied with and supported by the United States and Western allies, especially in the fight against ISIS.
Charmaine Hedding, who founded the Shai Fund, had been awake till the early hours organizing practical support for Christians and minorities, such as the Yazidis, Druze and Kurds, who are left vulnerable in the situation.
The Shai Fund (meaning “gift” in biblical Hebrew referring to Jesus, the greatest gift of all) supports those affected by war, conflict, disasters, persecution and exploitation. They have continued to partner with local communities, providing urgent aid, practical support and humanitarian assistance. Hedding has been actively involved in the area for the last 20 years from her base in Jerusalem.
In an interview with ALL ISRAEL NEWS, Hedding urged Christians to “Pray so that we can know how to be strategically involved on the ground.” She added that the motto of the Shai Fund is, “Be prayerful but be practical in our assistance.”
She encourages believers around the world to pray for the northeastern enclave held by the Kurds, that they may hold their ground and be able to expand their style of democracy which promotes civil liberties for minorities.
“That’s where there are many Evangelical churches, that Andrew Brunson and others supported. They have freedom of religion there. Muslim converts are able to openly worship Christ there,” Hedding explained. “This is the best governance and [for] the people who practice it in the region, it’s a model of inclusiveness, participative governance and religious freedom.”
Hedding highlighted the difference between the Kurdish AANES and the rebel coalition of the SNA with HTS. She said that AANES aligns more closely with Western values, explaining, “Since 2012 they’ve been able to develop good governance, practiced it, deradicalized their communities while fighting the Islamic State as part of the coalition forces, and if that’s not heroic, I don’t know what is.”
In contrast to AANES' democratic model, she warned, “The SNA Coalition has many ISIS veterans in it, and it’s very dangerous because we know what ISIS did to the Christians and the religious minorities. Turkey wants to eradicate the Christians and Kurds and religious minorities from this area. That’s Erdoğan’s stated goal, and he’s using the SNA to do it," she stated referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“The HTS is more concerned with bringing down the Assad regime, and their leader, Al-Jolani has a $10 million bounty on his head. HTS is a terrorist organization as listed by the US State Department, so you’ve got two radical jihadist groups who have taken over huge swathes of Syria... We should pray for Christians and minorities in the rebel jihadist areas that they’ll be protected.”
Hedding also encourages believers to pray that Western leaders would not be fooled by the declarations of Al-Jolani who is claiming that the coalition of the Syrian National Army and HTS had reformed.
“Pray that this is not going to be like what the Taliban did, when they said they were the ‘Taliban 2.0’ and the Biden admin was telling everyone they had evolved, but look what happened - they reverted back to exactly who they are. And why are we concerned about this? We’re already getting messages of people being beheaded, of massive human rights violations in the Shabha region. We’re already getting messages that Jihadi groups are telling people not to upload human rights violations to their phones or social media like Hamas did because then the world will know who they really are.”
Hedding shared that they had received reports of roads strewn with dead bodies, shot and burned, women beheaded, and 150 had been kidnapped by SNA Turkish-backed militia. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
“The one part of Syria that is democratic and has values like we have: freedom of religion and belief, inclusion for women, participation of all religious minorities according to their 2012 social contract, is northeast Syria. It’s from there that the U.S. bases have been able to form the coalition forces. They joined up with northeastern Syria to fight ISIS. These are the people we should be actively supporting, not these jihadist groups.”
Hedding continued, “We should not be duped like we were by the Taliban when they say this is what they will do when their history shows totally different. Turkish-backed militias with ISIS veterans have been attacking Christian and Kurdish areas and establishing a caliphate. If you look at their history...what they did in Idlib, that’s how we can understand the future. Until they’ve proven differently I’m not willing to support them and neither should anyone else. We should be supporting the type of governance that’s already been established and has the history and record of being open and inclusive for all religious minorities, allowing people to change their religion and believe whatever they want, including Muslim converts to Christianity.”
In addition to those prayer points, Hedding noted that the fall of the Assad regime is positive for the Syrian people and the region, in general. Still, we should be prayerfully aware of the following issues in the next weeks and months:
– Pray there will not be a spillover of violence into Jordan.
– Pray there would not be a proliferation of chemical and strategic weapons in the hands of jihadist terrorists.
– Pray against a Turkish invasion into Syria, especially NE Syria through SNA rebels.
– Pray against any attempt to attack the Israeli Golan Heights.
Jo Elizabeth has a great interest in politics and cultural developments, studying Social Policy for her first degree and gaining a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Haifa University, but she loves to write about the Bible and its primary subject, the God of Israel. As a writer, Jo spends her time between the UK and Jerusalem, Israel.
