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a Christmas tree burned, the Islamists in power promise sanctions

Several unclaimed incidents against places of worship, particularly Christian ones, have been recorded in Syria since the fall of the Bashar Al-Assad regime. The new leaders, from the Islamist group HTS, ensure that minorities are free to practice their religion and are protected.

Several demonstrations broke out in Christian neighborhoods of Damascus on Tuesday, December 24, to protest against the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama, in central Syria, said an AFP journalist.

“We are demanding the rights of Christians,” chanted the demonstrators as they marched through the streets of Damascus, towards the headquarters of the Orthodox Patriarchate in Bab Charqi.

Flowing spontaneously from different neighborhoods, they gathered to express their discontent and their fears more than two weeks after the takeover of power by an armed coalition led by Islamists who deposed Bashar Al-Assad. The overthrown president posed himself as protector of minorities in a Sunni majority country.

“So we no longer have our place here”

“We are going down because there is a lot of sectarianism, injustice against Christians, under the cover of ‘isolated cases’,” Georges said. “If we are not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as was the case, then we no longer have our place here,” he added. Some of them carried wooden crosses, others hoisted the three-star Syrian independence flag, adopted by the new authorities.

These demonstrations broke out after a video was broadcast on social networks where hooded fighters set fire to the Christmas tree in the predominantly Orthodox Christian town of Souqaylabiya, near Hama.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the fighters were foreigners from the jihadist group Ansar Al-tawhid.

The challenge of HTS in a fragmented country

In another video that has gone viral on social media, a cleric from the ruling radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is seen addressing local residents, saying that the perpetrators of this act were “not not Syrians” and promising them that they would be punished.

“The tree will be restored and lit by tomorrow morning,” he assured, alongside priests and to the cheers of residents who chanted Christian slogans.

Unifying the country fragmented by years of bloody war and where there are many factions with divergent allegiances and many religious minorities remains a challenge for HTS.

This former branch of Al-Qaeda, which claims to have renounced jihadism and adopted a more moderate discourse, knows that it is being scrutinized for the way in which it will treat Christian minorities, Alawites and Kurds in particular.

HTS nevertheless finds itself confronted with the presence of numerous foreign fighters, mostly from Central Asia, who had joined its ranks or those of other Islamist and jihadist factions during the conflict after 2011 and continue to pose a major challenge for the 'organization.

People celebrate the lighting of the Christmas tree in the Jaramana region, near Damascus, Syria, December 22, 2024. © ANWAR AMRO / AFP

According to AP, Syrian Christians made up nearly 10% of the country's population before the start of the civil war.

Several incidents reported

As Reuters reports, prior to these events, Christian leaders had advised worshipers to scale back Christmas celebrations this year, despite HTS's statements assuring that minorities are free to practice their religion.

Indeed, HTS told Western officials that it would not seek revenge against the former regime of Bashar Al-Assad, nor would it repress other religious minorities.

A man dressed in a Santa Claus costume holds the flag of the Syrian revolution at a market in Damascus, December 17, 2024. © AAREF WATAD / AFP

According to several media including L'Orient-Le Jour, several Christian places of worship have been vandalized in Syria since the fall of the regime. On December 18, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a Greek Orthodox church in the town of Hama, entering the compound and attempting to destroy a cross, and smashing headstones in a cemetery, the church said in a statement cited by Reuters. The Greek Orthodox Church said police quickly announced the arrest of the vandals.

Reuters journalists also saw several vehicles driving through Bab Touma, a predominantly Christian neighborhood in Damascus, ostensibly broadcasting jihadist songs over their loudspeakers.

HTS assures that minorities will be free

Interviewed by Vatican News, the Franciscan priest of a parish in Aleppo noted that rebels had, in recent years, shown increasing tolerance toward Christians, including returning confiscated property.

Vatican News also spoke with a vicar apostolic in the same city, who said he met with Al-Jolani, the leader of HTS, who assured him “that Christians and their property will not be affected, and that (the activists) will respond to all their legitimate demands.”

Syrians install Christmas decorations in Aleppo, December 23, 2024. © AAREF WATAD / AFP

A story which echoes the one told this Tuesday in the columns of Libération, where the Armenian archbishop of Damascus explained that “people from (HTS) came to see us on December 10, forty-eight hours after the fall of the regime, to reassure us and encourage us to put up Christmas decorations and celebrations as usual.

The cleric fears, however, that this will only serve to “give a good image to the international media”, as was also felt during the reign of Bashar Al-Assad.

However, according to Libération or as evidenced by photos broadcast by AFP, many Syrian Christians decorated homes and businesses. In cities like Damascus or Homs, Christmas trees have been erected in the streets.

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