(16 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 15 December 2024
1. Various of communion
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Shahin, church supervisor:
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“Last week, on Sunday, we were afraid and Mass was canceled because we were scared of the events taking place. But now, thank God, things are better and we are officially holding Mass every Sunday.”
3. Various of communion
4. Priest leading Mass
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Suzan Barakat, Syrian Christian from Damascus:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT6-7++
“Today, our prayers are for a new page in Syria’s future. We hope there will be a new future, a future of freedom where our rights are guaranteed and we can have a noble life.”
6. Various of congregation and priest during Mass
7. Various of women lighting candles in prayer
STORYLINE:
As church bells rang out, Christians in Syria gathered at churches on Sunday morning for the first Mass since the ouster of Bashar Assad.
It’s been a week since the stunning rebel advance seized control of Damascus and ended Assad’s 50 years of iron rule.
As thousands of Syrians poured into streets celebrating and waving the revolutionary flag last Sunday, churches didn’t hold Mass as a precaution.
“But now, thank God, things are better and we are officially holding Mass every Sunday,” said Ibrahim Shahin, a catholic church supervisor.
At al-Zeitoun church in old Damascus, dozens of people said prayers for a better Syria, with some shedding tears and others clasping their hands tightly in prayer.
“We hope there will be a new future, a future of freedom where our rights are guaranteed," said Suzan Barakat, a Syrian Christian from Damascus.
Minority Christians in Syria have been living in a state of uneasy anticipation since insurgents headed by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham took control.
Large numbers of Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population, fled after the civil war erupted in 2011.
Many of those who stayed supported Assad out of fear they might be targeted by Islamist insurgents.
Assad fled the country on Sunday, bringing to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto control as his country fragmented in a brutal civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.
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