SYRIA: THREATS LEFT AT TWO CHURCHES

Please pray for Christians in Syria, after threatening messages were left at two churches, heightening fear amongst believers.  

“Christian infidel, there is no deity but God, after St Elias Dweila, it’s St Elias Maared’s turn,” said the message on the wall surrounding the compound of St Elias Church in Maared Saidnaya (pictured above), located 30km north east of the capital Damascus. 

The words – which are believed to have been written towards the end of last week – refer to the devastating suicide bomb attack on Saint Elias Church in Dweilla, Damascus, on 22 June that killed 22 believers.     

It comes a week after a similarly threatening words were left on the walls of St Cyrillos Church in Damascus by a man who was caught on camera.  

“There will be no polytheists left in Syria by God’s will. Our meeting is near, you pigs of the cross,” wrote the message (pictured below). There was also a non-recognisable phrase that started with the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith): “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” 

Security cameras captured a young man entering the church in the middle of the night. He was dressed in black and wearing white shoes. He jumped over the wall in a way that suggested prior planning and knowledge of the camera locations, or familiarity with the site.  

Peace amidst fear 

It’s almost a year since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, with an interim government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa now in control.  

The change has brought some welcome economic and cultural improvements to parts of Syria, but the threat of conflict and violence remains, particularly in the south and north east. Last week, a bus was attacked as it travelled along the highway between Damascus and Suwayda, killing two people and injuring 11. 

These pockets of conflict are affecting Christians. In Aleppo, a local partner had to cancel a Bible competition because of fighting between the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces and the interim government. “A small conflict like this instantly brought back to memory the hard days and memory of losing friends and family members, and the terrifying thought that we might live under siege again,” says Julienne, a Christian in Aleppo. “I went to sleep with tears in my eyes, waiting for the morning and praying that something would change.” Meanwhile, the danger of attack from extremists continues, as these recent threats show. 

“We in Aleppo all share a hard life experience of long war days and siege, but we are the children of faith. We know that God holds the rudder of our lives,” said the priest at a recent Sunday service. “His words brought us a sense of peace,” says Julienne.