The End of Christianity in the Middle East

As Syria is partitioned between the US, (Greater) Israel, and Türkiye, serious questions about the future of Christian communities in the area arise

Every now and then, ‘even’ legacy media, perhaps inadvertently, spills some informational beans that are worth pondering. As President Assad has fled Syria and reportedly made it to Moscow, it is very well worth taking a look at an issue that is so far under-reported, ‘even’ among leading analysts whose clear-eyed views are correct more often than they are wrong.

Among them, I wish to direct your attention to Paul Craig Roberts’ new analysis of the Syrian quagmire, which I consider the best available:

Greater Israel Is On The March, 11 Dec. 2024

Syria no longer exists…

The real explanation for Israel’s aggression is that Israel now occupies part of Syria. If you will remember, recently Netanyahu held up a map of Greater Israel and it included Syria. Netanyahu, despite his criminal indictment in Israel for corruption, is likely to go down as the greatest of all Israeli heroes, as the leader who achieved the Zionist goal of Greater Israel…

The Zionist neoconservatives showed their hand many years ago when they put in motion their plan to destroy seven countries in five years. It took longer than five years, but with Syria’s fall only two of the seven remain–Iran and Saudi Arabia. The inability of the Muslim Middle East to unify has doomed it…

Assad in Syria and Saddam Hussein in Iraq were secular leaders. This was necessary as both countries had Sunni and Shite residents [note that PCR omits the sizeable non-Moslem and Christian communities]. But the jihadist forces Washington used against Libya and Syria contain real Muslims capable of jihad. These Muslims opposed the secular leaders of Iraq and Syria and are willing agents for Washington and Israel to use for their own purposes against secular Muslim regimes.

Please read the rest of his analysis on his website, because we must move on.

‘Hope and Anxiety for Syria’s Future’

This is the title of a piece that appeared on 10 Dec. 2024 on the website of Norwegian state broadcaster NRK. Penned by Silje Haugen Myrseth, I’ll spare you and me the more or less verbatim recounting of what happened, which makes up the majority of the piece; needless to say, it’s mainly a rumination of legacy media reporting™, hence we’ll turn to what I consider the important bits and pieces of information.

(As always, non-English content comes to you in my translation, with emphases and [snark] added.)

Fear for Minorities

When Zeina Bali (34) came to Norway in 2015, Syria was a country ravaged by civil war and Assad’s iron grip on the population was tightening [remember that the ‘uprising’ began in 2011].

So it was first and foremost a great joy when the news of the dictator’s fall hit her here in Norway.

But then came a mixture of other emotions. ‘It’s a very big historical change in Syria’s history’, says Bali.

‘Throughout history, there have been several examples of revenge actions after the fall of dictatorships. This has also worried many of the ethnic and religious minorities, especially those who have sided with the regime in Syria.’ [I’m not recommending looking for Jihadis executing dissenters and other ethnic and religious minorities of X/Twitter: these are gruesome videos, but they also show, clearly, what ‘many of the ethnic and religious minorities’ will suffer under the new régime]

However, Bali says she has spoken to friends from various minorities in Syria over the past week—all of whom are surprised.

‘I had very close contact with them. They’re actually saying today that “wow, it went well”.’

She says many Syrians, including herself, had a fear that the opposition [sic]—during its march on the capital—would trigger bloody conflicts in the face of Assad’s forces, as well as in areas considered loyal to Assad. [this was published on 10 Dec. 2024]

‘But it has happened very peacefully, until now. The opposition has negotiated to take over cities with local leaders.’

‘This was a positive development that showed that they chose politics over weapons in this transition process’, says Bali.

I’m not going to link to any of the gruesome videos found all over social media.

But I shall cite the experts™ beclowning themselves once more:

Although an Islamist militant group is behind the offensive to topple Assad, the Syrian Prime Minister, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, remains in charge of a peaceful transition of power.

This was negotiated when Türkiye, Russia, and Iran met for talks on the situation in Syria on Saturday [7 Dec. 2024].

‘It just goes to show how much emphasis this new rebel movement places on continuity and stability rather than a break’, says Brynjar Lia, Professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Oslo [that comment hasn’t aged very well, eh?].

According to Lia, some compare HTS to a ‘Taliban-light’, but he believes they are much less conservative and authoritarian [yep, re-read this once more if you can’t believe it].

‘So I’m not too worried. HTS operates, and has operated, in a completely different setting (than the Taliban in Afghanistan). I think they are very committed to continuing to create stability in the country’, says Lia [of course, dear Professor Lia, you needn’t be too worried as you sit in your warm, safe, and comfy office in Oslo, Norway].

He points out that the future turmoil lies in eastern Syria, where Turkish-backed militias are trying to destroy the Kurdish autonomy.

Oopsie, a ‘mostly peaceful’ transition for the ‘Taliban-light’ (sic), but less peacefulness for the ‘Kurdish’ communities in the country’s north-east whose existence is being ‘destroy[ed]’ by—‘Turkish-backed militias’.

The piece by Ms. Haugen Myrseth then concludes citing a UN Human Rights (sic, and perhaps I’d better add the ™ to that notion) expert as follows:

‘Actual Co-Operation’

On Monday, the UN Security Council gathers for an emergency meeting on Syria [this is what PCR called Russia’s attempt to ‘save Syria’ with ‘a document’]. According to the AFP news agency, Russia has taken the initiative for the meeting.

UN human rights chief official Volker Türk believes there is a great opportunity to ensure an inclusive [sic] political process in Syria, and that the signs so far are promising.

‘There is a huge opportunity to make this happen. And what we’ve seen so far is actual co-operation’, he said at a press conference in Geneva on Monday.

But Türk emphasises that the further political process must also involve those who committed serious abuses under the Assad regime being held accountable.

[Oslo U Professor] Lia says the goal of the UN meeting must be to achieve a common position from the international community [good luck with that, Mr. Expert™].

‘We must also avoid individual countries starting processes that will destroy internal reconciliation in Syria. Don’t give lots of money to one party in order to strengthen it on behalf of others.’

I’m going out on a limb here (/sarcasm), but that has happened before the Turkish-backed jihadis moved against the Assad gov’t, which was assisted by US airstrikes; this also precipitated the Israeli advance into southern Israel.

If I were to take Prof. Lia seriously, ‘we’ should therefore oppose ‘individual countries starting processes’ that compromise Syria’s future (there won’t be any). We must, therefore, ignore those ‘individual countries’ that already began such processes before 10 Dec., i.e., this both white-washes the involvement of the US, Türkiye, and Israel, as well as green-lights whatever is going on there right now.

Yes, this is utter nonsense, but he’s the expert™ professor here.

To be fair, in the NRK piece there’s also a small information box that explains the following about Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities:

Ethnic Groups

• Arabs: the biggest ethnic group, which comprises Sunni moslems and Christians

• Kurds: approx. 10% of the population, mainly Sunni moslems

• Turkmen: a smaller group [than Kurds], mainly Sunni moslems

• Armenians, Assyrians: small, mainly Christian groups

• Circassians: a small, mainly Sunni moslem group

Religious Groups

• Sunni moslems: the biggest group, which incl. Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Circassians

• Alawites: A branch of Shia Islam, which constitutes a significant minority.

• Christians: includes several denominations such as Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Catholics

• Druze: A small but important religious minority

• Ismailis: another branch of Shia Islam.

• Twelver Shias: s smaller Shia group.

And with this information, we can now turn to another piece of legacy media reporting that is less charitable—and, I shall add, more realistic—about the future of Syria.

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Syrian Christians Face an Uncertain Future

The majority of Syrians are Arabs and Sunni Muslims, while Christians have repeatedly been victims of persecution in the past.

By André Wilding, 20 Minuten/Heute, 10 Dec. 2024 [source]

Syria is a country with many minorities. The majority of Syrians are Arabs and Sunni Moslems. Christians are among the less represented religious groups. Like many others, they are afraid of the country’s future. However, some also hope that the situation in the country will improve. News agencies have published a video showing Christians dancing around a Christmas tree after the fall of the president.

This is what Christians say

‘So far, the rebels have kept their promises to respect people of all faiths’, a Christian resident told the Washington Post. ‘They are not harassing anyone—they are helping people.’ But he worries that ‘maybe it's a psychological game to win people over’ and that ‘something might change once they have more control’.

Another resident told the Green Press: ‘Three days have passed and nothing has happened.’ Everything is available, there are no outages, for example with water or electricity. It will take time for the situation to normalise. ‘God willing, it will be better than before.’

An Assessment

Aleppo was considered a Christian stronghold until the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. 250,000 Christians lived in the city of millions, divided into eleven different denominations. But today, only 20,000 of them are still there [that is a decline by over an order of magnitude].

‘The situation is still precarious’, says Middle East expert Matthias Kopp to the Christian broadcaster Dom Radio from Germany. The situation for Christians in Aleppo and the small Christian villages around Aleppo must be devastating. They are the main victims of the ‘jihadist storm’:

Whether any form of mediation on whether Christians can be recognised as citizens is currently beyond my knowledge. It would be very much to be hoped for.

Calls for Protection

Joel Veldkamp from the aid organisation Christian Solidarity International (CSI) explains to the Tamedia newspapers what now threatens the Christians who remain in Syria. The aim of Hajat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is to establish an Islamic state. For Christians, this would mean that they would be seen as ‘second-class citizens’:

They would then not be allowed to testify against Muslims in court, would have to pay more taxes, and would no longer be allowed to practise their religion in public, for example by holding processions.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called on the parties to the conflict in Syria to protect religious and ethnic minorities following the end of President Bashar al-Assad's rule. The Green politician said: ‘The country must not now fall into the hands of other radicals—regardless of the guise.’ [oopsie, that’s too late]

This includes the comprehensive protection of Kurds, Alawites, Christians, and other minorities, said Baerbock. A political process ‘that creates a balance between the groups’ is necessary. The Assad family, which has determined the fate of the Arab country since the 1970s, belongs to the Alawite minority.

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Bottom Lines: A ‘New™’ Middle East

I think what we’re observing is the end of secular rule in the entire region.

This, by the way, includes the mad Netanyahoo régime, which has a devastating track record of seeking to ethnically cleanse the Moslem Palestinians—and has similarly shown little, if any, consideration for the protection of other, non-Moslem groups, in particular Christians:

A Palestine without Christians?

I suppose, we can now remove the question mark and add that the Zionist-supremacist Israeli régime’s expansion into Lebanon and Syria will result in comparable consequences for the many Christian and other ethnic-religious minority groups.

Whatever one wishes to say about the governments run by Saddam Hussein and Bashar al-Assad, I hold that the Middle East will be far less religiously and ethnically diverse once the dust settles.

We can clearly see the anti-Moslem and anti-Christian stances of the Israeli gov’t, and as evidence for this assertion one must merely look at the devastation wrought by the IDF, which includes both Islamic and Christian places of worship.

Needless to say, this wanton destruction is a war crime, but do note that neither the UN Human Rights™ chief or anyone else but people who belong to those affected note this.

Greater Israel, the wet dreams of many among Israel’s ruling and religious élites, is a Zionist-supremacist entity that shall coexist with a similarly Jihadist-supremacist coterie of Islamist areas run without mercy by fanatics.

Both Türkiye and Washington are, of course, in support of this outcome, which will bring about the largest ethnic-religious cleansing since the waning of the Second World War.

And like 1944/45, Western and other powers will remain silent.

This silence will be our shame for the ages.

Coda: A Christmas Wish

I doubt that anyone will come to the aid of the persecuted.

The Middle East is being remade before our eyes, and once more the powers-that-be are looking away from the tragedy that is occurring.

Perhaps we will erect memorials and cenotaphs at a future point in time, but I don’t see anyone raising a fuss about this that will have a meaningful impact.

Non-Moslems have, historically, always paid an extra fee, but they were typically left alone and without the many restrictions on their faith that seem certain now.

Syria and Lebanon are thus joining the ranks of those countries in the Middle East with a more homogenous ethnic-religious make-up.

If I had a wish this Christmas season, I suppose it would be to ‘exchange’ many of the Moslems who came to Europe since 2015 with those ethnic and religious minorities that are now marked for persecution.

I suggest that these people should be offered asylum in Europe and, if necessary, they should be offered evacuation by Western military forces.

While I doubt that anything like this is discussed earnestly, it would be both the right and Christian thing to do, as well as a tentative beginning of Western atonement for facilitating this mess in the first place.

The fact that Western politicos™ and journos™ aren’t advocating for this is telling.

Our silence is a shame for the ages.