Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
SYRIA (ANS) -- Syria's Christians fear an Islamist takeover should the current government be overthrown. During the ongoing civil war there has been a well-documented rise in the number of salafi-jihadist groups operating in Syria that pose a direct threat to Syria's Christian community.
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Nina Oshana, killed in a bus
attack in Syria |
AINA said firsthand accounts from Syrian Christian refugees in Lebanon reported by award winning investigative journalist Nuri Kino detail the horror in which they described kidnappings, rapes, harassment, theft and other violent reprisals at the hands of Islamist groups.
AINA said those who survived reported "just being Christian is enough to be a target," disproving theories that violence and kidnapping directed towards Syrian Christians is purely incidental or for economic reasons. One individual said, "We're not poor.
We didn't run from poverty ... we ran from fear."
AINA said there are dozens of armed Salafi-jihadist groups both foreign and domestic currently operating in Syria. They overtly advocate Islamist agendas and possess the intentions and capabilities to violently persecute Syria's Christians.
Most notably from the global Sunni jihadist milieu is al-Jabhat al-Nusra lil-Ahl al-Sham min Mujahedin al-Sham fi Sahat al-Jihad (The Front for Supporting the People of Greater Syria by the Mujahedin of Syria on the Battlefields of Jihad). It's also known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which in Dec. 2012 the U.S. government officially listed as a terrorist organization.
In addition, AINA said, on April 9 the leader of Tanzim Qai'dat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (Organization of Jihad's Base in Mesopotamia) aka al-Qaeda in Iraq released an audio announcement that officially declared the unification of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Jabhat al-Nusra. It included the establishment of an Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, effectively expanding the threat to Syria's Christians.
AINA said the other notable militant Islamist group is al-Jabhat al-Islamiya al-Suriya (Syrian Islamic Front), a large armed coalition force comprised of several interdependent blocs and alliances organized throughout Syria.
AINA said even the relatively less hardline al-Jaysh al-Suri al-Hurr (Free Syrian Army) and al-Majlis al-Watani al-Suri (Syrian National Council) are by no means monolithic entities. They both exist as umbrella organizations, comprised of several independent and competing ideological currents and sub-currents including Islamism.
AINA said regardless of the means employed, whether violent or non-violent, to achieve the goals of these Islamist movements, the future is unfortunately no less hostile towards Christians.
AINA said within an Islamic State governed by Shari'a (Islamic Law), Jews and Christians, known colloquially as ahl al-Kitaab (People of the Book), are afforded a certain protected status called dhimmi, but only if they willingly submit to a tribute or coercive tax known as jizya.
Based on Islamist interpretation, which is strictly literal and uses the "doctrine of abrogation" first instituted by the 13th century Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, the later and more belligerent suras (chapters) of the Qur'an take precedence over the earlier and more tolerant suras.
As a result, AINA said, the salafi-jihadists frequently reference Sura al-Tawba (The Repentance) otherwise known as Sura al-Bara'a (The Ultimatum), which is the 9th chapter of the Qur'an, to justify their violent actions.
AINA said, "Numerous internationally recognized translations of Verse 29 of Sura al-Tawba explicitly state, "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."
Ultimately, AINA said, Syria's Christians as well as Jews will suffer persecution at the hands of Islamists unless they convert to Islam, submit to Shari'a and pay the jizya, emigrate or die.
Guilt by association: Syria's Christians labeled pro-Assad
The question of who would protect the Syrian Christians after the fall of Assad has historically led many Christians to support the status quo out of fear. AINA said a Congressional Research Service report from Aug. 2012 accurately portrays the dilemma of Syrian Christians who are "caught between their parallel fears of violent change and of being associated with Assad's crackdown."
AINA said according to a Sept. 2012 report by the Institute for the Study of War, President Assad has "used the threat of jihadists within the opposition to galvanize support for the regime among the Alawite and Christian communities."
Similarly, AINA said, the U.S. State Department's 2011 International Religious Freedom Report for Syria also recognizes the rising level of animosity towards Syria's Christians. It also acknowledges Assad's attempts to translate their fears into political support by sponsoring pro-government demonstrations in predominantly Christian neighborhoods, and violently rebuffing those viewed as undermining this effort.
AINA said, consequently, even individual Christians who don't in any way support the regime may still be identified as pro-Assad and thereby targeted for violent persecution by the Islamists and other opposition forces, or by government security forces for being perceived as unsupportive.
"Arab Spring" is "Christian winter." Persecution of Christians is a regional issue
AINA said Christian persecution is prevalent not only throughout Syria but also the entire region.
Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) has consistently published reports testifying that Christians throughout the Middle East, specifically in Syria, Egypt and Iraq, have been suffering persecution at an alarming rate. It includes a sustained campaign of violence, discrimination, mass emigration and internal displacement, all of which too often go unrecognized and unreported.
In an urgent attempt to bring attention to and spur action from policymakers, Wolf recently traveled to the region and met firsthand with Christian refugees from several Arab nations, including Syria.
AINA reported he said, "In fact, it often appears that there is an anti-Christian bias at the State Department. For years the department refused to recognize that Iraqi Christians were being targeted, insisting instead that they were simply victims of generalized violence."
AINA said unfortunately, the same can now be said of Syria's Christians, as Western naivety falsely assumes that anti-Assad opposition forces are automatically pro-democracy, pro-secular, and pluralist and Christians are merely victims of incidental violence.
However, AINA said, a recent report from the British newspaper The Guardian revealed that until recently hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians sought refuge in neighboring countries like Syria. Now they are once again forced to flee due to rampant religious persecution.
The Guardian report continued by saying that the majority of Christians have been emptied from the broader Middle East, and while the "Arab Spring" may have sprung new life for Islamists in the region, it has brought death to Christianity in places like Syria.
For more information go to www.aina.org
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