Syrian Christians attend services, schools reopen a week after Assad’s ouster

Authors Timour Azhari and Tuvan Gumrukcu

DAMASCUS/LATAKIA, Syria (Reuters) – Syrian Christians attended regular Sunday services for the first time since the dramatic ouster of President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, in an early test of the new Islamist rulers’ assurances that minority rights will be protected.

As the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) came to power last week, it sought to reassure Syria’s minority groups that their way of life would not be threatened.

Before Assad fell, historic religious minority groups, including Christians, believed freely, and some remain nervous about the possibility of an Islamist government.

The streets of the Christian-populated Damascus neighborhood of Bab Touma were packed with worshipers returning from church on Sunday morning, but some observed caution.

“We are scared, we are still scared,” said a local resident of Maha Barsa after attending mass at the local Greek Melkite Catholic church.

Barsa said she had barely left the house since HTS took power a week ago, although she said nothing had happened to warrant her concern, adding: “Things are ambiguous.”

In the coastal city of Latakia, long Assad’s stronghold, Lina Akhras, secretary of the parish council at St George’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral, said on Sunday that Christians were “comfortable” under his rule in terms of freedom of belief, but that he only wanted them to live in peace and harmony.

“(Assad’s fall) happened suddenly, we didn’t know what to expect… Thank God, we got a lot of assurances and we saw that members of the (HTS) committee came to our cleric,” she told Reuters.

God willing, we will return to our previous lives and live in our beautiful Syria,” Akhras added.

Syria is home to numerous ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Shiite Muslims. The Assad family itself belongs to the minority Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, in Sunni-majority Syria.

Tens of thousands of mostly Shiite Muslims fled Syria to Lebanon last week fearing persecution by the country’s new rulers, a senior Lebanese security official told Reuters last week.

Protecting Syria’s minorities was a key concern Saturday when top diplomats from Arab countries, Turkey, the United States and the European Union met in Jordan.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said they support an inclusive and representative government that will respect the rights of minorities and not offer a “base for terrorist groups”.

SCHOOLS ARE OPENING AGAIN

Syrian students also returned to classrooms on Sunday after the new rulers ordered schools to reopen in another strong sign of some normalcy.

The country’s new de facto leader, Ahmad al-Shara, faces the enormous challenge of rebuilding Syria after a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Cities have been bombed to rubble, the economy has been destroyed by international sanctions, and millions of refugees are still living in camps outside of Syria.

Officials said most schools across the country opened on Sunday, the first day of the work week. However, some parents did not send their children to classes due to uncertainty about the situation.

Students waited cheerfully in the courtyard of the Damascus Boys’ High School on Sunday morning and applauded as the school’s secretary, Raed Nasser, hung the flag adopted by the new authorities.

In one classroom, a student stuck a new flag on the wall.

“I am optimistic and very happy,” said student Salah al-Din Diab. “I used to walk down the street afraid of being drafted. I used to be afraid when I got to the checkpoint.”

END OF SANCTIONS?

As Syria begins to try to rebuild, its neighbors and other foreign powers are still developing a new view of the country, a week after the collapse of Assad’s government, which was backed by Iran and Russia.

Sharaa – better known by his rebel name Abu Mohammed al-Golani – heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that ousted Assad last week. HTS is a group formerly allied with Al Qaeda that has been designated a terrorist organization by many governments and is also under United Nations sanctions.

The UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Sunday that he hoped for a quick end to the sanctions to facilitate an economic recovery.

“Let’s hope we see the end of the sanctions quickly so we can see a real rally around building Syria,” Pedersen said as he arrived in Damascus to meet with Syria’s transitional government and other officials.