Syria | 22 September 2022

Syria: Jihadist group allows church to re-open

Armenian Orthodox Christians in rural Idlib province - with security measures provided by jihadist group HTS - have held a celebratory church service for the first time in a decade.

 

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Armenian Orthodox Christians in rural Idlib province have held a celebratory church service for the first time in a decade, according to an article published by Al-Monitor on 4 September 2022.

The celebration of St Anna’s Day marked the official re-opening of the church in Jacoubia, which had been closed ever since opposition militias and jihadist groups took control of Idlib province after civil war broke out in 2011, causing many Christians to leave the area. Security measures for the re-opening of the church were provided by jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which controls the province. It comes a few months after HTS’s leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani visited local Christian dignitaries and clergy, promising "to protect Christians in these areas and to allow them to practice their religious rituals. He also promised that private property belonging to Christians will return to their owners and stressed that every Christian who was displaced from these areas is welcome to return to his town and home and can recover his property.” The article by Al-Monitor also states that ex-HTS jihadists reacted with anger and criticism over the church opening and over public acts of Christian faith being carried out under the protection of HTS.

World Watch Research analyst Henriette Kats comments: “Several observers have interpreted this remarkable move by HTS as propaganda - an attempt to boost the group’s image and become more accepted by the international community (Al-Monitor, 27 July 2022). It indicates that HTS is seeking to position itself more and more as a moderate Islamic ‘state’, for which it can use the support of religious minorities. They are said to have neutralized hardliners who refuse to treat religious minorities fairly and have formed committees to reconsider minority rights that had been previously violated. Despite these hopeful developments, Christians in the region still suffer from high levels of intimidation. Many Christians do not dare to trust HTS’s promises, knowing that some hardliners within the group are said to be vindictive. In addition, it is highly questionable whether HTS is also prepared to treat Christian converts from Islam in the same way. This is the ultimate proof for true religious freedom.”
 

 

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