FIRST ON FOX: The rising violent assaults and killings in Syria underneath the Islamist rule of the brand new regime led by Ahmed al-Sharaa have put the nation’s Christian group on edge, with many fearing for his or her future.
“The scenario for Christians in Syria has reached a important threshold, and I might argue they’re teetering on the sting of disaster,” Jeff King, the president of Worldwide Christian Concern, informed Fox Information Digital.
“A jihadist storm is starting to rain down on them and, so how lengthy can religion maintain?” King added.
Whereas King’s group has been actively serving to persecuted Christians in Syria in addition to globally for years, a gaggle of Syrian Christians within the nation’s capital, Damascus, generally known as the Eagles of Antioch, got here collectively to defend their communities and non secular identification following the autumn of former Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad.
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The Eagles of Antioch protest in Damascus following the burning of a Christmas tree by extremists. (Eagles of Antioch)
The group’s significance is much more important, given the assaults by Islamic extremists earlier this month that resulted within the demise of a whole bunch of the minority Alawite group in addition to a number of Christians who had been focused resulting from their religion.
The “Eagles of Antioch,” is a volunteer group made up of round 500 volunteers, working inside three primarily Christian neighborhoods in Damascus. They watch over Christian areas from nightfall to daybreak, patrolling the streets and defending Christian shrines from assault.
Danial Georgios, a development engineer dwelling in Damascus, spoke completely to Fox Information Digital concerning the group’s work in Damascus neighborhoods. Georgios, 30, and his Eagles of Antioch wish to fill within the safety hole till tensions ease.
“We wish to be represented. We now not settle for the concept of being marginalized or handled like a second-class citizen,” he informed Fox Information Digital.
“We take a look at ourselves that we’re equal to the Muslim, the Alawite, and each single Syrian citizen,” he added.
The group derives its title from the traditional metropolis of Antioch, reflecting their deep-rooted connection to the Antiochian Patriarchate. Members hail from three most important Christian denominations: Antiochian Greek Orthodox, Antiochian Melkite Catholics and Antiochian Syriac Orthodox.
Members of the group patrol their communities, defending Christian holy websites, together with shrines, symbols and church buildings. If a website is broken or vandalized, the group will restore it themselves, hoping to keep away from an escalation into sectarian battle between the Christian group and their Sunni neighbors.
They advocate for a system primarily based on sturdy municipalities, or excessive native governance, enabling Christians throughout Syria to handle their very own affairs and have fun their spiritual festivals with out worry of persecution. Since rising, the group has efficiently protected liquor shops, church buildings, shrines and residences from theft and vandalism, in keeping with the Eagles of Antioch.
Georgios and his friends had been spurred to motion in December after a Christmas tree was lit on hearth in Al-Sqailbiyyah, simply outdoors Hama. Radical jihadists, in keeping with Georgios, had been chargeable for the vandalism. Following the incident, He and his fellow Christians organized a mass peaceable protest inside Damascus, chanting for equal rights for all Syrians.
Christians collect to have fun Christmas on the Monastery of Our Girl of Saydnaya on December 24, 2024, in Saydnaya, Syria. Christians within the newly liberated Syria are celebrating Christmas however could also be going through an unsure future after the overthrow of the Assad Regime. Christian Syrians are apprehensive the brand new Islamist administration might marginalize minority communities. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Photographs)
“We wish to internally be capable of police our space,” Georgios stated. Nevertheless, he confused that any actions taken are in coordination with the HTS government and won’t impression the sovereignty of Syria or problem its rule.
Even when HTS is able to offering full safety in Damascus and different minority communities round Syria, Georgios stated the group is not going to dissolve however could be open to becoming a member of state-sponsored native police forces underneath the authority of HTS if the political transition continues.
“We wish to be represented, and we now not settle for the concept of being marginalized or handled like second-class residents. We take a look at ourselves that we’re equal to the Muslim, the Alawite and each single Syrian citizen,” Georgios stated.
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Since Assad fell and HTS took power, Georgios claims that many of the assaults in opposition to Christian communities had been carried out by overseas factions or radical parts, and isn’t authorities sanctioned.
Regardless of stories and accusations that HTS members have been concentrating on Christians, he claims, “It’s not HTS in any respect, HTS is attempting to keep away from any clashes with Christians. HTS is now the state and we as Christians attempt to help stability,” Georgios asserted.
Syrian households who fled the clashes in Syria arrive to cross into the northern village of Heker al-Daher in Akkar province, Lebanon, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photograph/Hussein Malla)
HTS promised to not target religious minorities throughout their lightning path to seizing Damascus and toppling Assad. The group made assurances to the communities they managed that they’d enable spiritual minorities to peacefully coexist and wouldn’t be focused for his or her religion.
But, King’s group is not as hopeful. “Since HTS toppled the Assad regime in December 2024, the setting has been precarious at finest. However the bloodshed that unfolded March 6-10 in Latakia and Tartous represents a daunting escalation. In line with the Syrian Observatory, the violence claimed over 1,540 lives—predominantly civilians, with stories indicating between 4 and a dozen Christians among the many casualties.”
He continued, “Whereas HTS hasn’t but carried out an official anti-Christian coverage (they’re treading rigorously desirous about public notion as they solidify management), sure factions and particular person fighters are already concentrating on Christians with violence.”
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist group’s chief Abu Mohamed al-Jolani checks the harm following an earthquake within the village of Besnaya in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkey, on February 7, 2023. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP through Getty Photographs)
King’s organization noted that the brand new interim Syrian structure states, “The faith of the President of the Republic is Islam,” Article III declares, and “Islamic jurisprudence is the principal supply of laws.” The group says that “this language is barely starker than Syria’s earlier structure, which cited Islamic regulation as merely one supply amongst others.”
Worldwide Christian Concern (ICC) additionally famous that the interim structure additionally ensures safety “for all divine religions.” The ICC wrote that the doc “appears to point that the federal government intends to tolerate Christians and different spiritual minorities.”
And there are some encouraging indicators in keeping with the Eagles of Antioch, who say they coordinate intently with HTS in Damascus, in keeping with Georgios, benefiting from the presence of educated HTS fighters within the metropolis. This collaboration ensures that Islamic guidelines aren’t imposed on Christian neighborhoods. Along with HTS police, they work to forestall crimes, sustaining safety and concord inside these communities.
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A picket cross and Syrian flag are seen at an Eagles of Antioch protest in Damascus in December 2024. (Eagles of Antioch)
Among the volunteers have weapons which can be licensed and sanctioned by HTS officers. They convey and coordinate with them and supply info on the individuals who dedicated any crimes.
But regardless of some constructive indicators, King stated, “Syria’s Christian inhabitants has already skilled a devastating decline, dropping from 1.5 million earlier than the battle to someplace between 300,000 and 500,000 now. The group exists in a state of perpetual nervousness, doorways locked, ready tensely for the scenario to deteriorate additional,” he warned.
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