Violence Against Syria’s Christians Continues
Sectarian violence broke out on March 27–28 in Suqaylabiyah, a predominantly Christian town in Hama province, Syria, after two Muslim men from the nearby town of Qalaat al-Madiq harassed a Christian woman. When local men intervened, the two Muslims returned with around 100 men on motorcycles who stormed the town, destroying shops, homes, and vehicles, firing guns into the air, and destroying a shrine of the Virgin Mary.
Some attackers attempted to assault a group of Christian girls. Families hid in their homes for hours while security forces allegedly stood by and watched. The local police had only 20 officers and claimed they did not intervene because they were outnumbered. Control was restored only after reinforcements arrived from Hama.
Six Christians were arrested, while none of the attackers were taken into custody. Church leaders subsequently reached out to local Islamic leaders and received assurances from security forces that the six men would be released. Local sources reported that some national security personnel participated in the violence.
Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Mourad told Asia News the attack followed prior incidents of threats and harassment by armed youths against residents. A second attempted attack the following day was thwarted by security personnel. Residents staged a protest demanding compensation, accountability for perpetrators including those within government ranks, and rejection of a religiously homogeneous security force.
This was not the first time violence broke out. Prior to December 2024, Suqaylabiyah had been attacked more than a dozen times, including attempted suicide bombings and the deployment of Islamist preachers pressuring residents to convert. In the weeks before the March 27 attack, armed Bedouin groups operating alongside government-affiliated forces entered the Christian towns of Kfarbo, Mhardeh, and Al-Suqaylabiyah, carrying out robberies, destruction of Christian symbols, and desecration of cemeteries, with no response from government forces.
On March 22, the Ethnikos Association of Latakia-Antaradus issued a formal statement documenting these incidents, reporting attempted abductions of Christian girls prevented only by civilian intervention and death threats issued against a Christian girl for not wearing the Islamic headscarf. In Homs governorate, Al-Qusayr had been repeatedly targeted with attacks on Christian homes, including grenades, gunfire directed at sleeping occupants, and arson.
Around the same time as the March 27 attack, attackers vandalized a Christian cemetery in Al-Rawda in Tartus province, smashing crosses from tombstones, an incident documented by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. That same weekend, two men filmed themselves mocking a statue of Jesus in the village of Mahardeh and posted the video to social media. A young Christian girl from Mahardeh said of what she was seeing online: “What we’re discovering in the hearts of people around us feels like darkness.”
Syria has been governed by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Christians previously made up about 10 percent of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million and enjoyed freedom of worship and some government positions under Assad.
A suicide bombing outside a church near Damascus in June 2025 killed 25 people and wounded dozens, marking a turning point after an initial period when many Christians cautiously accepted the new government. HTS has since banned alcohol consumption in Damascus, a measure that directly affects Christian neighborhoods.
The Ethnikos Association of Latakia-Antaradus issued a statement on March 22 reporting a deteriorating security situation for Christians across Kfarbo, Mhardeh, Al-Suqaylabiyah, and Wadi al-Nasara. The group stated that armed groups affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Defense had carried out desecration, armed assaults, and attempted abductions of Christian women while state authorities failed to intervene.
On March 29, the patriarchs of Syria’s major Christian churches, Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, and Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Youssef Absi, issued a joint statement from Damascus condemning the attacks and calling for measures to restore security, control the spread of weapons, and uphold principles of citizenship and equality.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate announced that Easter celebrations would be limited to prayers inside churches, a position adopted in coordination with other churches. Aid to the Church in Need reported cancellations of Palm Sunday processions near Suqaylabiyah and in Damascus. Syria’s state news agency SANA claimed services proceeded normally across the capital and that security measures had been taken to protect churches.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch called for an official investigation, accountability, compensation, and guarantees against repetition. The European Syriac Union called on the United States, the European Union, France, and Germany to reconsider their support for the Syrian government.
Syria vaulted from No. 18 in 2025 to No. 6 on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, the largest single-year increase in the list’s history. Its violence score jumped from 7 to 16.1 out of a maximum 16.7. Open Doors estimates that approximately 300,000 Christians remain in Syria today, hundreds of thousands fewer than a decade ago. The al-Sharaa government has condemned attacks on minorities, but he has shown time and again that he is either unwilling or unable to protect the country’s religious and ethnic minorities.
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