"Syria has now become an Islamic state"

Rome. “We thought we had finally achieved freedom. That night, for the first time in years, I slept peacefully,” said Monsignor Jacques Mourad, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Homs, in Vienna a few days ago. “Just two months later, armed clashes broke out and Islamist militias began attacking Alawite civilians. At that moment, I realised that we did not yet have freedom, and my struggle to win it began anew.” Archbishop Mourad was kidnapped in 2015 by Islamic State militants whilst he was at the monastery of Mar Elian: “They told me, ‘Convert to Islam or we’ll cut off your head’.” He managed to draw strength from prayer – “Whenever fear overwhelmed me, I prayed the rosary and my fear turned to courage” – and was rescued by a group of local Muslims who saved dozens of Islamic State hostages. Many of these “rescuers” were subsequently executed. He is therefore well aware of who governs Syria today, as they come from the ranks of that movement. “Most members of the government are Islamist fundamentalists; many are from Idlib,” long the stronghold of militants loyal to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s Caliphate. “These extremists hate the Alawites and the Druze even more than they hate Christians, and the government is either unable or unwilling to stop the violence.” If one cannot speak of freedom, one can speak even less of religious freedom; on the contrary, religious minorities are being targeted, as the Islamists believe that the only true faith is Islam. The diversity of society, including its religious diversity, said Monsignor Mourad, holds no value whatsoever for the new government.

The Christian population is at an all-time low: before the civil war, there were two million. Today, there are three hundred thousand left, perhaps three hundred and fifty thousand. “If this trend continues, Christianity will disappear from this region.” Despite this, he does not side with the majority of local bishops who are calling on those who have fled to return home; quite the contrary. The economic situation is dire; there is a lack of work and security is not guaranteed. A year ago, a suicide bombing during Sunday afternoon Mass devastated the Greek Orthodox Church of Mar Elias, one of Damascus’s oldest and most revered monuments. More than twenty people were killed and dozens injured. It was not a random target: that church had always been a symbol of dialogue and coexistence between different faiths. The attacker – affiliated with what remains of the Islamic State – knew full well what that place represented. And this is precisely what the bishop laments today: “We need more spaces for encounter beyond confessional and religious boundaries so that coexistence can once again succeed”, but the government seems very unwilling to move in this direction. There is no pluralism, nor is it being sought: “Why are there only six Christians and only five women in the new Syrian Parliament?”, he asked. A Parliament whose members, as Bishop Mourad emphasised, are largely Islamist fundamentalists, many of whom hail from Idlib itself, the capital of the Caliphate of the late Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Not exactly a good calling card for the new Syria, which arouses so much curiosity and compassion in the West.