(21 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Qamishli, Syria – 28 January 2025
1. Various of people reciting prayers in Virgin Mary Church for Syriac Orthodox
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hasaka, Syria – 27 January 2025
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bishop Maurice Amsih, Archbishop of Al-Jazeera and the Euphrates of Syriac Orthodox:
“Sunnis are our brothers and they are the majority in Syria today, but we are against the establishment of the Islamic Sharia for all components. We and all people of the country want them to treat us in a civil way.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tel Nasri village, Hasaka, Syria – 27 January 2025
3. Wide of destroyed Virgin Mary Church
4. Children playing with ball
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Maria Hanna, Civil Society Activist:
“The fall of (former Syrian President Bashar) Assad was a joy, but this joy was followed by the fear from the unknown future. There is an unclear situation with a hazy future. I mean we don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tel Tal village, Hasaka, Syria – 27 January 2025
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Elias Antar, Head of Relations Office for the Assyrian al Khabur Guards:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“The scenes (people in power) that we see of these beards (men with beards) remind us of Daesh (Islamic State group) beards. If you want honesty, these scenes are not comforting (for) the society. It doesn’t provide relief for all components.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Qamishli, Syria – 28 January 2025
7. Various of people reciting prayers in church
STORYLINE:
This month, northeast Syria’s remaining Christians will mark the 10th anniversary of the IS attack on over 30 villages along the Khabur river.
On Feb. 23, 2015, dozens of Christians were killed or wounded and over 200 were taken hostage. Churches were blown up and thousands of people fled.
The anniversary comes as Christians worry about the future of Syria following the ouster of longtime Syrian President Bashar Assad in December by insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.
HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now interim president and most government members come from Islamic factions.
Al-Sharaa has repeatedly said religious rights will be protected in post-Assad Syria.
Though HTS had been an al-Qaida affiliate, it is opposed to IS and fought deadly battles with it over the years.
IS was defeated in Syria in 2019, but sleeper cells still carry out attacks. Since Assad’s fall, there have been some attacks by others targeting Christians.
In December, a Christmas tree was set on fire in Suqailabiyah village. Authorities called it an isolated incident.
Western countries have pressed Syria’s new authorities to guarantee the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as those of women.
The vast majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, while about a quarter of the population is Christian, Druze or Alawite.
Christians made up about 10% of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million, co-existing with the Muslim majority and enjoying freedom of worship under the Assad government.
The last parliament speaker under Assad was Christian. But since civil war began in 2011 with a popular uprising against Assad and a government crackdown, hundreds of thousands of Christians have left the country.
The rise of IS and its attack 10 years ago helped to drive them out.
In nearby Tel Nasri, Christian residents have left and the village is full of displaced people from other regions.
The Church of Virgin Mary still stands but is badly damaged after being blown up in 2015.
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