(gc) – “Syria is experiencing days of great significance in its recent history, a change that most of us have never experienced, since the Assad regime has ruled the country for 54 years. Obviously, this disorients people, who feel mixed feelings of joy and relief, but also anxiety about the future. » It is with these words that Brother Bahjat Elia Karakach, Franciscan brother minor of the Custody of the Holy Land and Latin parish priest of Aleppo, begins a circular sent on the evening of December 9 to benefactors and friends.
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“Yesterday – he continues – after the announcement of the fall of the regime, there was a day of great chaos in Damascus and in the coastal towns, where the leadership of military operations arrived late to restore some order and ban shooting and looting. “We were very afraid: looting, fires, even ten-year-old children carrying weapons in the streets,” a witness who lives in Jaramana, near Damascus, told me. Today, the situation seems to be under control. Several people express their concern about the advance of the Israeli army in the Syrian territories, occupied in particular in Quneitra and Mount Sheikh. Some even fear that Israel will invade all of Syria. »
A meeting with the new local power
Meanwhile, heads of Churches of different rites present in Aleppo gathered on the morning of December 9 for a meeting, in the presence of representatives of the new transitional government chaired by Mohammad al-Bashir.
“The ecclesiastical authorities of Aleppo – explains Brother Bahjat – requested this meeting to “exchange their Christmas greetings”. The meeting was held in our parish hall near the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. The priests asked many questions, and these officials responded in a very friendly manner, giving concrete and reasonable answers, but at the same time full of optimism about the future of the country. The first concern at the moment, said the person responsible for contacts with Christian communities, is to guarantee security and respond to urgent needs; then we will provide the necessary services for activities to return to normal. »
The authorities who now control the city have promised, in the coming days, the opening of Aleppo airport to allow the arrival of humanitarian aid. We also hope for a resumption of international flights, because many Syrians want to return to Syria, at least to see their loved ones again.
Openness with Christians
On the front of the freedoms granted to Christian communities, the openings are total.
“They have guaranteed that everything the Christian communities have done so far will continue. Ecclesiastical property will be returned, and private Christian schools will continue their educational mission because they “existed before Assad and will exist after”. Concerning the future of Syria, they declare that they have no predetermined project: everything depends on the will of the Syrian people, who have the right to decide together on the form of their government. »
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Mgr Antoine Audo, Jesuit, Chaldean bishop of Aleppo, recalled at that time the role of Christians in Arab culture. Representatives of the new transitional government then responded by listing the names of renowned writers, insisting: “You are not foreigners, but an essential part of this country, just like us. » The meeting concluded with a group photo taken in front of the convent door.
The accumulation of injuries
“As the days pass – concludes Brother Bahjat – Syrians are more and more shocked by the images of the underground prisons that were opened to free political detainees. The images transmitted from these places of death inevitably recall those of the Nazi concentration camps. Several thousand detained for life without trial, in inhumane conditions, subjected to unimaginable torture. People reduced to ghosts by hunger. This wound adds to the other wounds of the Syrian people… Many families did not even dare to say that one of their loved ones had disappeared in the regime’s prisons; terror forced them to remain silent, but the pain in their hearts consumed them from the inside. Now that these prisons have been opened, everyone is rushing to find out if their loved one is still alive or if their mental state still allows them to recognize them. All Syrians are now demanding justice, not only from the men of the regime, but also from those who supported it for many years and deprived Syrians of their most fundamental rights. Justice, so that the prison that imprisoned all Syrians for more than fifty years will never be repeated in history. »
