During late January and early February, a delegation of senior Syrian church leaders visited Washington to raise the plight of the Christian community in the war-ravaged country. It was the first time since the start of the civil war, in March 2011, that such a visit had taken place.
On January 27, they participated in a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation titled, ‘Marked for Destruction: The Plight of Syria’s Christians’. The church leaders spoke of the unbelievable atrocities that have been committed against the Christian community by rebel groups, who are backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
More than 1,200 Christians were reportedly martyred in 2013; over 600,000 Christians have fled the country, with even more being internally displaced; and an estimated 30-40 churches have been seriously damaged or completely destroyed.
Riad Jarjour, a Presbyterian pastor from Homs and former president of the Middle East Council of Churches, said: ‘If this continues the way it is, there will come a time when there will be no more Christians in Syria’.
The Syrian church leaders took their case to policymakers and officials at the State Department, Democrat and Republican members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and also the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and the US Institute for Peace.
Specifically, they urged the US to put pressure on its allies to stop supporting and sending terrorist fighters to Syria.
Sympathy but no promises
The delegation was received sympathetically, but there was no assurance of support for the Christian minority.
The Syrian church leaders have faced criticism for getting too involved in politics. But all they asked for was a political solution following the Geneva II process, rather than a military one.
They were erroneously reported to be pro-Assad and pro-Hezbollah because they highlighted the atrocities being committed against Christians by opposition forces. But they expressed opposition to all nations and groups engaged in violence in Syria.
