UPDATE: Syrian Christians need your prayer as rebels enter Aleppo

December 2, 2024

On the 1st Sunday of the Advent (Dec 1), Christians and many others in Syria woke up with fear for what is to come. As the extremist group continued their offensive that started on Wednesday, thousands of Syrians, including Christians have fled from cities like Aleppo, Hama and Homs.

Until now, the fighters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an opposition group supported by Türkiye, have taken control over more than 50 villages and over big part of the city of Aleppo. They have expressed on social media video clips that citizens shouldn’t be worried. But as they have an Islamist agenda, there is plenty of reason for concern among Christians and other minorities.

Since the start of the offensive of HTS there is growing unrest in the rest of the country.

Please pray that the Lord will protect the Christians in the country including the staff of Open Doors’ partner organisations in Syria. That He will give wisdom to them on how to respond to the current situation in the country. Pray that whatever happens, they won’t turn against the church.

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November 29, 2024

On Wednesday 27 November, opposition groups to the Syrian government launched an offensive in the north west of Syria towards the city of Aleppo. Until now they have taken control over more than a dozen villages. Christians in Aleppo again are living in fear and need your prayer. 

A Christian man shared on Thursday afternoon, “the rebels bombed the suburbs of the city, attacking the villages coming towards the centre. There were counter attacks by the military and we couldn't sleep all night, not knowing what's going on and if we are in danger, but the sounds were close and getting closer. They [rebels] tried to enter the industrial area and were confronted by soldiers last night. Today they are bombing each other again and they are 14 kilometres away from the centre of Aleppo. Please pray for us, our kids are scared and we have no idea what to do and where to go since they control the road to Aleppo from Homs and Hama.”

A Christian woman said: “I couldn't sleep due to the noise; it was a very scary night, and we are still hearing it today. Just this afternoon there were huge bombings near to us. Now it is a little calmer but everyone is scared and can't imagine going back to the same situation of the war."

The offensive once again shows that the crisis that started in March 2011 in Syria isn’t over. The Syrian and Russian armies have responded to the offensive with airstrikes. Due to the fighting, the highway between Homs, Hama and Aleppo isn’t safe for travel anymore.

To our knowledge, there were almost no Christians living in the villages that were conquered. We cannot confirm if there were any Christians in the villages when the villages were taken.

According to Syria’s official news agency SANA, the General Command of Army and Armed Forces said in a statement on Thursday: “Our armed forces continued to confront the large-scale terrorist attack carried out by terrorist organizations in Aleppo and Idleb countryside. The terrorist organization “Jabhat al-Nusra” positioned in Aleppo and Idleb countryside carried out, Wednesday morning, a huge and large-scale terrorist attack, with large numbers of terrorists and using medium and heavy weapons, targeting safe villages, towns and military sites in those areas”.

They spoke of “heavy losses in equipment and causalities among terrorists.” There was no mention of civilian or Syrian army casualties. Other sources speak of at least 200 people killed on both sides, including civilians.