Syria's Christians flee rebel crosshairs
Groups of Jihadists are increasingly targeting Christian communities, lumping them together as "pro Assad." More than a third of Christians have fled. Some worry about the future of Christianity in the country.
In the days after a sharpshooter put his brother in the crosshairs and pulled the trigger, Jalal Gazouha lived as if in a cloud. "I almost went crazy with grief," the Syrian explained on the telephone. The connection crackles. The 29-year-old's brother was killed by al Qaeda fighters in the western Syrian city of al-Qusayr, close to the Lebanese border. Gazouha is convinced that his brother was killed because he was Christian. "They want to drive us out of Syria," he told DW. By "they," he's referring to Jihadists from countries neighboring Syria - with a few hundred from Germany mixed in - who have joined in the Syrian civil war to fight against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to Gazouha, they're also targeting Christians. Twenty of his family members have been murdered, he says. When Gazouha received death threats, he fled the country. "I saw my name on a list on the Internet. That list contained names of Christians who were supposed to be killed, he says, written by "the terrorists of al Qaeda." Jean Kawak, a Syriac bishop from Damascus, chose his words carefully when he spoke about the subject with DW. "We Christians have recently felt threatened by particular radical Islamist groups," he said. Kawak's own sister was forced to flee Ma'loula, a small, largely Christian village just an hour's drive north of Damascus. Islamist rebel groups attacked that village, carried out fire attacks on two churches in Rakka in north central Syria and also kidnapped two Syrian bishops in April; the culprits behind the latter attack, eyewitnesses said, were foreign Jihadists. All of these things, the Aramaic bishop says, "affect our Christian presence within Syria." One-third of Christians have fled the country in the last two years due to the civil war - with numbers increasing. These radicalized groups are not only targeting Christians though, Kawak says. "Moderate Muslims are also being threatened." Fears of displacement Kawak fears that Christian refugees may not be able to return at war's end - something comparable, he says, to what happened in southern Turkey. "Christianity has been there for 2,000 years. And we hope that Christianity is not going to leave that area." To prevent that, Kawak traveled from Damascus to Europe for a short trip. He met with Swedish politicians, German aid organization employees as well as members of Germany's Foreign Office, showing statistics related to refugees and handing out so many business cards that he had none left by the time of the interview with DW. His goal? More humanitarian aid for people in Syria - but also a political solution to the conflict. The West must do more, he says, to bring both sides to the negotiating table. "Reconciliation is possible," says Kawak - of that he is convinced. But what kind of reconciliation could be possible between Bashar al-Assad and the rebels, the latter of whom have rejected any form of political solution that leaves Assad in power? The bishop shakes his head. "You can't make demands before you begin negotiations. A real dialogue has to take place without preconditions," he said. Otherwise, the bishop worries, murders and tit-for-tat attacks will continue for years - perhaps decades - with an unforeseeable end for Syria's Christians. Praying for peace Jochen Langer, Middle East expert at the International Society for Human Rights, shares the bishop's concerns. "The Syrian army is trying, as well as they can, to protect Syria's Christians," he told DW. "But that's only possible to a limited extent." Lately, the regime has been hard-pressed to secure any single area within Syria. Daily, sometimes hourly, the fronts between rebel forces and the Syrian army change. Christians are in particular danger, Langer says, "when they, wherever they live, end up between the fighting." In other words, Christians, like all Syrians, die from the bombs and grenades that land in their villages and cities. In some regions, Langer says, Christians have already been singled out, often by the Islamist al-Nusra Front, a group moderate opposition forces have no control over. But the expert also added that "those could also be very personal acts of rage." Sadiq Al-Mousslie, a member of the Syrian National Council in Germany that forms part of the Syrian National Coalition, acknowledges that there were cases of "sporadic attacks by sick individuals." But were they targeted attacks? "No," he says firmly. "That's part of the Assad regime's propaganda that's been taken up by the West." Behind it, he says, is the regime's intent to divide and weaken the opposition. For Jalal Gazouhas and his Christian family, other factors also had an influence. His extended family's homes and property holdings were divided amongst his Muslim neighbors, he says. "We were an important family in al-Qusayr. That's why we were attacked." Still, he is convinced: "We were persecuted because we're Christians." He speaks of friends who disappeared without a trace, rumors of checkpoints where Syrians with Christian names are arrested. Previously, Gazouha worked for Syria's ministry of tourism. Today, he's "not with Assad, but for the regime." Why? "Under Assad there was security for Christians," he says. Christians in Syria are often therefore accused of supporting the Assad regime - or remaining neutral at the very least and of not having joined the opposition forces. It's an accusation Bishop Jean Kawak rejects. "The whole world puts Christians in one basket - pro regime - and this is not true," he says. Like all other communities, there are Christians in Syria who support Assad, those who are against him and those in the middle. Khaled*, a Syrian Christian who studied in Germany, is part of that middle. "I was always against Assad," he told DW. "But now?" He pauses briefly. "If the extremists gain the upper hand, then I don't know what's worse." He prays, he says, that there may finally be a peaceful solution - of some kind. *Khaled requested that DW withhold his real name.
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Syrian
Christian
Christian Christianity Christian_Cage Christian_radio Contemporary_Christian_music Christian_music Christian_school Christian_County,_Missouri Christian_County,_Kentucky Christianity_in_Lebanon Christian_metal Christian_County,_Illinois Christian_film_industry Christian_rock Arab_Christians Celtic_Christianity
Germany
Germany Germany_national_football_team Nazi_Germany German_Empire Germany_women's_national_football_team Weimar_Republic German_Football_Association ISU_Junior_Grand_Prix_in_Germany GfK_Entertainment_Charts Germany_national_youth_football_team A1_Team_Germany Germany_national_rugby_union_team Kingdom_of_Germany German_literature Germany_men's_national_ice_hockey_team Same-sex_marriage_in_Germany
Assad
Bashar_al-Assad Asad Salah_Assad Al-Assad_family Hafez_al-Assad Assad_Abdul_Ghanee Clarice_Assad Hamri_Al-Assad
DW
Drum_Workshop Deutsche_Welle DW-TV Defender_(association_football) Dreamworld_(Australian_theme_park) Data_warehouse Delhi_Wizards D.W._Read DW Discworld
Khaled
Khaled_(musician) Khaled_(horse) Khalid Khaled_(film) Khaled_(album) Khaled_Abdulrahman DJ_Khaled Khaled_al-Tuwaijri Khaled_5_(horse) Kal_Naga Khaled_bin_Talal_bin_Abdul_Aziz_Al_Saud Khalid_bin_Abdullah_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saud Khaled_Holmes Khaled:_A_Tale_of_Arabia Khalid_of_Saudi_Arabia Chieftain_(tank)
DW
Drum_Workshop Deutsche_Welle DW-TV Defender_(association_football) Dreamworld_(Australian_theme_park) Data_warehouse Delhi_Wizards D.W._Read DW Discworld
Islam
Christianity
Christianity
iptc::12000000 slot::keyword topic::none topic::religion type::entity type::misc type::other type::religion type::religion-x
Jalal Gazouhas
gender::male meta::todo slot::keyword topic::none type::entity type::person
al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
iptc::16000000 slot::keyword topic::conflict type::armed_movement type::entity type::organization
Jean Kawak
gender::male iptc::12000000 slot::keyword topic::religion type::clergy type::entity type::person
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar_al-Assad
gender::male iptc::11000000 topic::politics type::entity type::head_of_state type::person type::politician
Jochen Langer
gender::male iptc::11000000 topic::politics type::activist type::entity type::person
Syria
Syria
slot::in topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe0 type::location
Jihadists
Jihadism
iptc::12000000 topic::none topic::religion type::other type::religion-x
Syrian
topic::none type::gpe0-x type::other
al-Qusayr
Al-Qusayr,_Syria
topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe2 type::location
Lebanese
topic::none type::gpe0-x type::other
DW
Deutsche_Welle
topic::media type::entity type::media type::organization
Germany
Germany
topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe0 type::location
President
topic::none type::role type::value
Internet
Internet
iptc::13000000 topic::science type::entity type::misc type::technology
Syriac
topic::none type::gpe0-x type::other
Damascus
Damascus
topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe2 type::location
Islamist
iptc::12000000 topic::none topic::religion type::other type::religion-x
Ma'loula
Maaloula
topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe2 type::location
Rakka
Raqqa
topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe2 type::location
April
topic::none type::time type::value
Aramaic
topic::none type::entity type::ethnicity
Muslims
iptc::12000000 topic::none topic::religion type::other type::religion-x
Turkey
Turkey
topic::none type::entity type::gpe type::gpe0 type::location
Europe
Europe
topic::none type::entity type::location type::regio
Swedish
topic::none type::gpe0-x type::other
German
topic::none type::gpe0-x type::other
Foreign Office
Federal_Foreign_Office
iptc::11000000 policy::exterior topic::politics type::entity type::governmental_organisation type::ministry type::organization
West
Western_world
topic::none type::entity type::location type::regio
Middle East
Middle_East
topic::none type::entity type::location type::regio
International Society for Human Rights
International_Society_for_Human_Rights
iptc::11000000 topic::politics type::entity type::ngo type::organization
Syrians
topic::none type::gpe0-x type::other
al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra_Front
iptc::16000000 topic::conflict type::armed_movement type::entity type::organization
Sadiq Al-Mousslie
gender::male iptc::11000000 topic::politics type::entity type::person type::politics_per
Syrian National Council
Syrian_National_Council
iptc::11000000 topic::politics type::entity type::organization type::politics_org
Syrian National Coalition
National_Coalition_for_Syrian_Revolutionary_and_Opposition_Forces
iptc::11000000 topic::politics type::entity type::organization type::politics_org
Muslim
iptc::12000000 topic::none topic::religion type::other type::religion-x
Bishop
topic::none type::role type::value
Khaled
gender::male meta::todo topic::none type::entity type::person
Islamism
Sweden
Lebanon