Christians made up about 10% of Syria’s population before that nation’s protracted civil war; today, they make up less than 2%. There were 1.5 million Christians in Syria in 2011 and 300,000 in 2022.

“Al Qaeda Urges Victorious Syrian Rebels to Target Christians,” Barnabas Aid, December 9, 2024:

Concerns have been raised about the safety of Christians and other minorities in Syria after an Islamist-led rebellion ousted the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Already it has been reported that al Qaeda has urged the victorious rebels to turn against “Jews and Crusaders,” a pejorative term for Christians.

The rebellion against Assad began to gain the upper hand around the beginning of December. Armed forces took control of the Syrian capital Damascus in the early hours of Sunday, December 8, while Assad fled the country.

Assad’s government was guilty of heinous human rights abuses, including arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and attacks against civilians, including the use of chemical weapons.

Not all of the armed groups that deposed him are Islamists, but the leading rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a designated terrorist organization that was previously affiliated to al Qaeda.

When he first returned to Syria from Iraq in 2011, HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani worked closely with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who later became the caliph of Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL, Daesh). Jolani’s group remained affiliated to al Qaeda when IS and al Qaeda split in 2014.

More recently, Jolani has refuted extremism and presented himself as more moderate.

In an interview with U.S. broadcaster CNN on December 6, Jolani said, “No-one has the right to erase another group. [Different religious groups] have co-existed in this region for hundreds of years, and no-one has the right to eliminate them.”

He added, “There must be a legal framework that protects and ensures the rights of all.”…