Greater leadership is needed in Syria amidst ongoing violence and the persecution of minorities, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The predominantly Christian town of Suqaylabiyah, in the western-central Hama province, has been the subject of recent upheaval, where mob violence broke out after two Muslim men were expelled from the town after harassing a Christian woman.
Martin Parsons, CEO of the Lindisfarne Centre for the Study of Christian Persecution, told en of how the mob, egged on by the banished Muslims, arrived in the town of around 16,000 residents on motorbikes and “fired guns [and] smashed up cars and shop fronts”.
No one is believed to have been killed, but Christians “understandably” held protests in the town the next day which were subsequently condemned as “divisive and sectarian” by jihadist groups, who claimed they undermine the nation’s Muslim identity.
Concerning the wider significance of these events, Parsons called for greater government leadership and protection of minorities, with the ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) having largely failed to fulfill its promise to protect such groups since it gained power in late 2024.
He said: “The instigation of mob violence because Christians expelled two Muslim men for attacking a Christian woman implies that in some people’s eyes, Christians do not have the right to defend themselves.
“That has echoes of the dhimmi contract which a decade ago IS imposed on Christians in northeast Syria. It indicates that some local Muslims do not regard Christians as equal citizens, but as subservient to Muslims. The government needs to come out and say that Christians have equal citizenship rights with Muslims.”
