Christmas in a new, uncertain Syria
By Hunter Williamson
December 19, 2024
Pastor Dani* woke to the sound of gunfire.
In the early hours of December 8, the sky was still dark as Dani opened his phone and turned on the news. What he saw had seemed unimaginable just hours before he had gone to sleep: opposition forces battling the Syrian government had entered the capital city of Damascus, bringing a sudden end to the decades-long rule of the Assad family.
“Yes, hallelujah. Finally, we have freedom,” Dani thought to himself as realized that the gunfire he heard was not the sound of battle; it was opposition fighters shooting their weapons into the air to celebrate their capture of Damascus.
A few days after the fall of Assad, Dani spoke with Thimar at a small cafe in the Christian quarters of Damascus. A curfew imposed earlier that week had been lifted, allowing citizens to move freely around the city later into the chilly winter evening. Over a cup of hot, Arabic coffee, Dani recounted the events of the past few days. The initial jubilation he had felt had begun to wane, his joy tempered by a creeping concern about what the next chapter of Syria will be like under its new leaders.
The relatively non-violent capture of Damascus seemed like an answer to prayers. In the days leading up to the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad, Dani and other church leaders prayed that if a transition of power were to happen, that it would be peaceful and bloodless. They had expected heavy fighting between government forces and opposition groups if the latter managed to reach Damascus in a lightning assault that began in late November. To their relief, no such major battle occurred.
On a typical Sunday, the church where Dani pastors as a youth leader holds two services. But with celebratory gunfire erupting non-stop across the city that Sunday, church leaders decided it was safer not to convene. They were concerned that someone might be injured or killed by a stray bullet. But there were also questions about whether the church could safely gather under Syria’s new leadership.
A coalition of opposition factions overthrew the Assad government, but leading them was Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), a group with old ties to Al Qaeda.
Under Assad, Christians and other minorities were mostly allowed to practice their faith and perform religious rituals as long as they did not speak out against the government or openly evangelize. While much of Syria’s pre-war Christian population left the country due to the conflict and economic challenges, in Damascus and other government-controlled areas, Christians went to church on Sundays and celebrated holidays like Easter and Christmas. But over the course of Syria’s brutal civil war that saw the country divided and fragmented among various groups with different political leanings and ideologies, Christians living in areas controlled by extremists like the Islamic State (ISIS) found themselves discriminated against, persecuted, and even killed.
Though the HTS has distanced itself from its Islamist origins, its well-known history has kindled concern among minorities about what the country will be like under the group’s leadership. In recent weeks, HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, widely known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has met with minority leaders and stated intentions to form a united country with an inclusive government. Yet many Syrians remain skeptical, worried that Sharaa’s words are just attempts to garner favor and legitimacy before enforcing an Islamist form of governance that is just as authoritarian as the one he helped depose.
Prior to the opposition’s victory, HTS was based in the northwest province of Idlib, where it governed and provided limited services. It faced questionable popularity, with documented cases of human rights abuses and restrictions on religious freedoms. One rights group reported in late 2022 that HTS and other opposition factions had prevented Christians from openly practicing their faith, with religious services being restricted to inside church walls and forbidding the ringing of church bells or raising crosses. The same rights group also noted hundreds of cases of HTS seizing homes and properties belonging to Christians and other minorities who had fled Idlib and distributing them to fighters or renting them out to displaced families.
In recent years, however, the HTS showed willingness to change and develop a more moderate image on the world stage. In 2023, HTS’s civil wing, the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), reportedly began to return seized properties to minority groups in Idlib province, though the terms and conditions seemed to differ between Christians and Druze, another minority group in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
In addition to HTS’s history, some Syrians are also concerned about the composition of the recently formed transition government, which is composed entirely of SSG ministers. The transition government is set to rule until March 1 and is tasked with providing stability and basic services.
“Day by day, we moved from happiness to having some kind of fear about what will happen next,” Dani said.
Life slowly returns to normal
Recent events have put a pause on various projects and events run by churches in Syria that are supported by Thimar as people assess the situation and what will come next.
But life is gradually returning to normal in most of Syria as the opposition leadership reestablishes law and order and improves public services while schools resume and shops and restaurants reopen.
This past Sunday, Dani’s church held its usual morning service, though it decided to cancel its afternoon service. So far, Syria’s new leadership appears to be sticking to its commitment to respect minorities and allow them to continue to practice their faith and religious ceremonies. Church bells rang across Damascus as Christians from various denominations gathered for mass and Sunday services.
Inside the walls of Dani’s church, the congregation worshiped God, listened to teaching from scripture, and prayed for their country, for its new government, for peace, and for justice. Afterwards, they gathered as they always do in the main hall to chat and fellowship. Over coffee and sweets, members talked about what had happened and what is still to come. The newfound sense of joy and freedom was almost tangible.
“You can see the happiness on their faces,” Dani said of the members. “You can touch the sense of freedom in their words and in their actions and expressions.”
A different kind of Christmas
Though life gradually returns to normal, Dani’s church does not plan to celebrate Christmas like it usually does.
“Because of the situation, we canceled some (Christmas) events in our church,” Dani said. This coming Sunday, the church will host a service with worship music and Christmas songs and a sermon about the true meaning of Christmas. On Christmas day, it will host a celebration, but it will be simpler than ones in years past.
The uncertainty of what comes next is on the forefront of many Syrians’ minds, extending beyond just the rights and freedoms of minorities. A long road to recovery lays ahead, hampered by questions of justice, reconciliation, and the various competing interests of regional and international actors involved in the Syrian conflict.
The fall of Assad is a major blow for his allies Russia and Iran, both of which invested huge sums of money and military might to keep Assad in power. Iran has lost a strategic land corridor to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, and the fate of Russian military bases in Syria are in limbo. It waits to be seen what Moscow and Tehran’s relations with Syria’s new leadership will look like.
The US maintains several hundred troops in northeast Syria as part of an international coalition focused on preventing the resurgence of ISIS. Their ongoing presence and the anti-ISIS mission is being called into question, especially as Turkey, a NATO member, and opposition groups that it supports clash with Kurdish forces backed by the US in the area.
Israel, meanwhile, has deepened its involvement in Syria. Claiming that it is acting in self-defense by eliminating potential threats, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military, weapons, and research sites that previously belonged to the Assad government. It has also sent military forces deeper into Syrian territory and announced plans to increase the number of Israeli citizens living in the occupied Golan Heights.
Domestically, a number of challenges persist and will need to be addressed, including repairing Syria’s shattered economy and rebuilding a country heavily destroyed by fighting. Crucial to both of those issues is the matter of sanctions imposed on Syria, as well as the fact that HTS is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and other western governments. Reconstruction efforts and humanitarian aid have long been hampered by sanctions, and many people and organizations are calling for their removal in order to facilitate rebuilding and the delivery of widely needed humanitarian assistance. Other pressing challenges include justice and accountability. Addressing all of these is closely intertwined with yet another issue at the forefront of the minds of many of Syria’s neighbors: the potential return of millions of refugees living in countries like Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan.
As Syrians and their new leaders grapple with these challenges, Dani and other Christians pray that churches will be lighthouses across the country. Years of unconditional support for local communities impacted by war and natural disasters has previously enabled churches to be beacons of hope in the country. It also built them favor with other local communities. Through food aid, home rehabilitation projects, psychosocial support programs, and much more, churches have helped Syrians endure and heal from years of bloodshed and destruction. With new and old challenges ahead, Dani prays for God’s will in the country, for His glory, and for Him to give Christians courage as they face yet another period of uncertainty.
“We need the Holy Spirit to move over Syria, to rule over Syria, to heal people, to give them forgiveness, and to heal their feelings and their broken hearts,” Dani said.