Syrian Islamic Rebels Overtake Hama; Christians In Crossfire (Worthy News Focus)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

DAMASCUS (Worthy News) – Syrian rebels have captured the central city of Hama in the latest blow to President Bashar al Assad, adding to concerns about the plight of the country’s Christian minority, according to military officials and aid workers.

The Syrian army said it withdrew and took up positions outside the city to protect civilians hours after opposition fighters claimed they were “marching” towards its center.

The insurgents said they had entered Syria’s fourth-largest city on Thursday after days of intense fighting with government forces on its outskirts.

The fall of Hama follows a lightning offensive by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) and Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

The surprise assault, which has killed hundreds, came after Islamic rebels overran much of Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, last week. It reignited the country’s civil war, where the frontlines had primarily been frozen over the previous few years.

The battle for Hama saw fierce fighting inside the city, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started,” the monitor’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said before the city was captured.

DEFENSIVE LINE

As the government tried to organize a defensive line, the rebels’ next target could be Homs, just 25 miles (38 kilometers) to the south.

Video circulating online Thursday appeared to confirm that the rebels captured a government military airport outside Hama, freeing prisoners held in a detention facility there.

About 900 U.S. military personnel are based in Syria as part of the U.S.-led counterterrorism mission targeting remnants of the Islamic State terror group, according to sources familiar with the situation.

U.S. Defense Department officials said that American troops have no role in the ongoing civil war, but they have been under sustained attack by Iranian-backed militants.

However, the ongoing clashes have further put pressure on minority Christians, according to Syrian Christians and international aid workers.

David Curry, President and CEO of the Global Christian Relief group, told Worthy News that the fighting has left “innocent Christians caught once again in the crosshairs of war.”

He said “Islamist terrorists” seized portions of Aleppo, causing “thousands to scatter and becoming displaced.”

HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS

However, “road closures and a lack of humanitarian corridors are compounding the issue, while the nearest refugee camp is already overflowing with over 20,000 people living in dire conditions.”

Yet “those trapped in their homes within Aleppo are enduring the terrifying sounds of bombs falling from Syrian and Russian counterforces,” he noticed.

“Fear is setting in amid indefinite bank closures, dwindling supplies, and water and power shortages,” Curry added.

In written remarks shared with Worthy News, Christians said that the “situation in Aleppo is very difficult … the people woke up to the sound of heavy shelling that shook the entire city. People are now afraid to even walk in the streets.”

A Christian whose name was not revealed amid security concerns said, “We must also consider the families stranded … Many are stuck. The situation in Syria is critical, with displaced civilians facing life-threatening conditions.”

There was concern Thursday that even more Christians would be forced to flee their homes in the Muslim nation. “Areas where Islamic militants are active, leaders of historical churches are particularly vulnerable to attack or kidnap, while most buildings belonging to such groups have been demolished or co-opted for Islamic use,” said advocacy group Open Doors.

“For Christians living in these areas, there is little scope for expressing their faith, and many have been forcibly displaced from their homes.”

TIGHTENING GRIP

Yet in government-controlled areas, the authorities are also “tightening their grip on those whom they feel are a threat to social stability, including converts from Islam to Christianity. The attitude of the Syrian government towards churches is determined by the Christian community to which they belong,” Open Doors said.

“Although all Christian communities come under pressure, historical churches are in a stronger position to defend their rights than those from non-traditional church groups such as Evangelicals, Baptists, and Pentecostals” in government-controlled areas.

However, with Islamic groups advancing, their plight could worsen, according to a Worthy News assessment.

Before the initial Syrian Civil War erupted in 2012, about 1.5 million people, 10 percent of the then-Syrian population, declared themselves Christians. The number is thought to have dropped to as few as 300,000 Christians in Syria today, according to several Christian groups.

Global Christian Relief said it was now on the ground to help at least some remaining believers as it has “a track record of serving suffering Christians in the Middle East.”

The group earlier said it provided emergency relief and long-term support in Turkey and Syria after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck, supplying food, medicine, and container homes “to those who lost everything.”

Yet, with fighting ongoing, the country was rapidly turning into broader chaos, with the future of autocratic President Assad uncertain. Assad was thought to be in Moscow when the rebel offensive began, returning to Damascus over the weekend.

FUTURE UNCERTAIN

He relied heavily on Russian and Iranian backing during the most intense years of the conflict, helping him to claw back most territory and Syria’s biggest cities before front lines froze in 2020.

But Russia has been focused on its war in Ukraine since 2022, and many in the top leadership of Hezbollah, the most powerful Iran-aligned force, were killed by Israel over the past two months.

In a television statement, the group’s new leader, Naim Qassem, pledged to support Syria.

However, the prominent insurgent commander, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, declared “full rebel control over Hama” on Thursday and issued a video statement “warning against any involvement by another Iran-aligned force – Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition.”

As night fell, more deadly clashes were expected. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a respected war monitor, said that more than 600 people had been killed, including 107 civilians, and tens of thousands were displaced since the start of the rebel offensive last Wednesday.

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