Remembering
James Robison

You are viewing a page from our archive site. To browse the latest Christian TV content on The Stream, click here.

Syria Falls to al Qaeda. What’s Next for Christians There?

By Jason Jones & John Zmirak Published on December 9, 2024

If you follow the mainstream media, you’ve probably read stories about the plucky freedom fighters dubbed the “Syrian rebels” and heard that they just vanquished the forces of a wicked, dangerous tyrant, Bashar al-Assad. If you ever took John McCain seriously, you might have believed him when he vouched for these groups as “moderates.” If you watched the Republican presidential debates in 2016, you’d have heard all but three of those seasoned GOP leaders (Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump) agree that it was so important to America that these rebels prevail that the U.S. ought to shoot down Russian planes, risking a nuclear war.

Those rebels must be great guys, akin to the colonial militias that fought at Bunker Hill. They must be trying to establish some tolerant democracy and keep the Russian Bear from rebuilding the Eastern Bloc on the shores of the Mediterranean. And anyone who opposes them, such as Tulsi Gabbard, is likely to be a “Russian agent” who deserves to be tailed by federal marshals every time she gets on a plane. (That has been happening for more than a year and is still happening now.)

Right?

Why are most American politicians willing to wink as al Qaeda takes over a country? As jihadists ethnically cleanse a million Christians, torture Yazidis, and persecute other minorities while slaughtering the Kurds who were our key allies against ISIS? Why are our formal allies Turkey and even Israel helping these violent extremists to win?

Syria sits at a crucial crossroads, a land bridge between Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula, offering Mediterranean access near critical waterways. It’s a “pivot state” allowing power projection across multiple regions. Under Assad, the country didn’t persecute Christians, but it did let Russia use a port on the Mediterranean. The same hawks who wanted to risk a nuclear war over Ukraine wanted to kick Russia out of that port. It seems that they have their wish.

Israel saw that the Assad regime in Syria was dependent on Iranian-backed militias such as Hezbollah, which backed the Hamas attacks against Israel. Without a friendly Syria, those militias can’t get arms and men from Iran, and can’t do as much harm to Israel. So Israel wanted to see Assad fall, and doesn’t much care that al Qaeda has replaced him.

Turkey, now an aggressively Islamist regime, wants to reconquer pieces of Syria that it regards as rightfully Turkish to push back against the power of Shi’ite Iran and crush the Kurdish militias allied to Syrian Christians, which threaten its iron grip on oppressed Kurdish regions in Turkey.

Add to all of this the fact that pipelines carrying energy from Iran and Iraq would have to run through Syria, control of this tortured country appeals to every player in the region.

Not Exactly

Well, actually, no. The Stream has already reported what’s actually happening in Syria:

One of the world’s oldest Christian communities is facing extermination from jihadists, as Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda have seized the Syrian city of Aleppo – home to an estimated 3.5 million people, including more than 50,000 Christians.

While Aleppo has seen a mass exodus of some 200,000 Christians in the past 12 years, the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of large parts of the city on Sunday, prompting warnings from persecution watchers of a fresh “religious cleansing” of Christians.

“It looks like we are now heading for another major crisis for Syrian Christians,” Dr. Martin Parsons, director of The Lindisfarne Centre for the Study of Christian Persecution, told The Stream. “Christian aid agencies need to prepare for a massive relief operation.”

In the last push of the 2024 election, Jason Jones traveled to Pennsylvania to meet with American voters in Syrian Christian churches, whose sisters, cousins, and elderly parents now hide in their homes and wait for al Qaeda to come burn their churches down. The terror has already started, as Jules Gomes reported here:

“Christians of Aleppo have fled to the Kurdish neighbourhoods where the Kurds, even the elderly women, are taking up arms to defend Kurds and Christians,” Middle Eastern researcher and peace advocate Hemdad Mehristani reported.

“Unfortunately, ethnic cleansing of Kurds and religious minorities is currently taking place in Aleppo. Tens of thousands of its Kurdish, Armenian, and Assyrian population are forced out of the city by the Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists of Turkey,” Crisis Watch confirmed.

Here’s one Syrian Christian begging his fellow believers around the world to help:


Will Trump Act to Aid Syria’s Christians?

Those Pennsylvania voters saw today’s terror coming. Syriac Christian and Trump voter Dennis Atiyeh told Jones, “We love Donald Trump. He is the only politician who actually cares about peace and religious freedom instead of profits for arms manufacturers. The Democrats, the neocon Republicans … they don’t see people. They see little pawns on a chess board, and think that is a game. But the Gospel tells us ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ God bless Trump, if he can bring peace.”

Jones promised Dennis, his pastor, and the other believers he met there that he would use his influence with Trump’s team to advocate for a sane compromise in Syria that protects religious and ethnic minorities. And they voted for Trump by huge margins, delivering him the key state of Pennsylvania. Trump owes them one, and we are here to collect.

However, Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t intend for there to be direct U.S. involvement in the Syrian catastrophe once he takes office:


Tragically, America has been involved in Syria for 20 years, and last week — we know this seems unbelievable, but it’s true — was using U.S. planes to bomb Shi’ite militia supporting the Syrian government. Effectively, we served as the air force for ISIS. That’s right: Many of the “rebels” controlled by Turkey are veterans of the rape-happy caliphate U.S. forces were bombing back in 2017.


Those “Syrian rebels” whom John McCain told us to trust aren’t fighting for freedom, but for theocratic sharia. In fact, they are part of al Qaeda — the same group that flew planes full of Americans into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. So why did the American establishment — from Hillary Clinton to Lindsay Graham — want to use American planes to fight on their behalf and U.S. marshals to stalk not al Qaeda, but U.S. veterans and former members of Congress?

If you appreciate The Stream archives, please consider supporting the outreaches of LIFE.

Why are NATO member Turkey and U.S. ally Israel cheering on al Qaeda in its conquest of a half- million Christians, which seems likely to result in a mass ethnic cleansing, exactly as happened in Iraq after 2003 — again, after a war supported by the U.S., Turkey, and Israel? Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance is publicly worried about exactly that:

What Could Save Syria? A Decentralized, Swiss-Style State

Back in 2017, hundreds of thousands of needless civilian deaths ago, a model was on the table that could have saved Syria. It still could:

There is a better way. The peace talks at Astana, stalled for now, envisioned a Swiss-style solution for Syria. Each of the regions now controlled by one faction or other would form a kind of “canton,” with most of the powers that normally go to a central state. These cantons would be linked by a loose confederation, designed to keep peace among them. (Some other Alawite, not Assad, should be its figurehead.) People unhappy in the canton where they ended up would likely vote with their feet, and move to a friendlier region.

The Swiss model is already present in Syria. The Federation of Northern Syria, led by Kurds allied with Christians and tolerant Arabs, is composed of self-governed cantons in voluntary association. It’s the one part of Syria where women take part in politics, all religious groups are free, and power stays close to the people. The Stream‘s Johannes de Jong has written in depth on how federalism works now in this part of Syria.

Such a plan isn’t perfect. It will frustrate the ambitions of every group. And that’s the point. Because in Syria today such ambitions often include erasing minority rights, forcing people to change religions, or simply wiping them out.

 

Jason Jones is a senior contributor to The Stream. He is a film producer, activist, and human rights worker. He is also the author of three books, the latest of which is The Great Campaign Against the Great Reset.

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or coauthor of 14 books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. His newest book is No Second Amendment, No First.