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Who is really behind the deadly attacks on Christians in Syria?

By Stephen KokxMarch 10, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Who is really behind the deadly attacks on Christians in Syria?
Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images | People wave guns in the air, as they gather to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime in Umayyad Square on December 8, 2024, in Damascus, Syria

As predicted by National Security Director Tulsi Gabbard at her confirmation hearing last month, Syria has fallen into sectarian chaos following the ousting of former President Bashir Al-Assad, leaving Christians in peril.

(LifeSiteNews) — The slaughtering of innocent Christians in Syria is now international news. The images are too barbaric to share here. 

As predicted by Donald Trump's National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard at her confirmation hearing last month, the country has fallen into sectarian chaos following the ousting of former President Bashir Al-Assad. 

“Syria is now controlled by al-Qaeda offshoot [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham], led by an Islamist Jihadist … who has already begun to persecute and kill and arrest religious minorities like Christians," Gabbard said at the time. 

Gabbard was smeared relentlessly by neocons like Bari Weiss as being a Russian pawn for telling the truth.

But she was right to do so. Under Assad, Christians were fairly-well protected and faced minimal harassment. He also visited their churches and balanced differing factions of Islamic sects.  

The West sought to court Assad for years after he succeeded his father in 2000 at the tender age of 34. But when it realized he wasn’t going to play ball, they made up claims he gassed his own people and started calling him the “Butcher of Syria.” Then-U.S. President Barack Obama funded “moderate rebels” to take him out. 

“He’s the founder of ISIS,” Trump said of Obama in 2016.  

Just one year earlier, Trump prophetically noted that “we have no idea who the other side are … to me, Assad looks better than the other side.”  

Turns out he was right.  

During her own run for president in 2015, Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said removing Assad was a top priority. 

But why? Why has the U.S. been so concerned with this tiny Middle Eastern country for so long? And why are Christians there being ethnically cleansed today? Part of the answer to those questions comes from a 2012 email sent by Clinton that was released by WikiLeaks.  

“The fall of the House of Assad could well ignite a sectarian war between the Shiites and the majority Sunnis of the region drawing in Iran, which, in the view of the Israeli commanders would not be a bad thing for Israel and its Western allies,” it ominously reads. 

A video of Zionist commentator Ben Shapiro explaining the benefits toppling Assad has had for Israel has been making the rounds on social media today. While noting that the “Russian-Iranian” influence around Israel has been drastically reduced, Shapiro seemed rather indifferent towards the suffering the Christian population there might undergo in the coming days.   

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been taking a victory lap since Assad’s removal. At a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month, Netanyahu took credit for Assad’s fall, stating that it was “made possible by Israel’s weakening of Iran’s terror axis.” 

Netanyahu is being far too shy. The Israeli government has provided funding to the “rebels” in Syria since at least 2017. The offensive was successful largely due to their support.  

Which raises the uncomfortable question: Is Israel funding Islamic groups in Syria in order to cleanse the Middle East of Christians?  

As it stands right now, Syria is about to be carved up between Turkey, a quasi-fascist Islamic state, and Israel, a secular Jewish nation. Christian leaders in the region are rightly worried that their people are going to continue to be in the crosshairs. 

“The Christian Churches … condemn the massacres targeting innocent civilians and call for an immediate end to these horrific acts, which stand in stark opposition to all human and moral values,” a recent statement reads. 

The statement was signed by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, the Syriac Patriarch of Antioch and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. 

Unlike Assad, the West has given Syria’s new leader a hero's welcome. Instead of calling him a “dictator" like his predecessor, Abu Mohammad al-Julani has had the red carpet rolled out for him. 

Julani has already met with the U.N.’s Secretary General, and is slated to visit EU leaders (with the EU already having eased sanctions on Syria). He has also welcomed Germany’s Foreign Minister to Damascus. 

Friendly Western outlets now speak of Julani’s “transformation.” 

“From Syrian jihadist leader to rebel politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Julani reinvented himself,” reads a BBC headline from December.  

This is rather remarkable given that there was nothing “democratic” about how he became the “president.” It is also remarkable given that he was labelled a terrorist by the U.S. in a 2017 X post. 

Not all Syrians are convinced of the BBC’s claim. A rather effective counterattack against Julani’s forces took place last week. They were acting essentially in self-defense to prevent more mass casualties. The EU responded on social media by defending the Julani regime. 

“The European Union strongly condemn the recent attacks, reportedly by pro-Assad elements, on interim government forces in the coastal areas of Syria and all violence against civilians,” it said while remaining silent on the genocide of Christians. 

It is now up to the U.S. to ensure that the new Syrian regime does not kill any more Christians. There are reports that the U.S. is working with Russia to convene an emergency meeting of the U.N.’s Security Council this week to bring the violence to an end. One can only hope that that will happen as soon as possible.

World
March 10, 2025 at 6:52 PM
SK

Stephen Kokx

Stephen Kokx is a journalist for LifeSiteNews. A former community college instructor, Stephen has written and spoken extensively about Catholic social teaching, politics, and spirituality. He previously worked for the Archdiocese of Chicago under the late Francis Cardinal George. His essays have appeared in a variety of outlets, including Catholic Family News and CatholicVote.org. He is the author of two books, Navigating the Crisis in the Church: Essays in Defense of Traditional Catholicism and St. Alphonsus for the 21st Century: A Handbook for Holiness.
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Article At A Glance

  • As predicted by National Security Director Tulsi Gabbard at her confirmation hearing last month, Syria has fallen into sectarian chaos following the ousting of former President Bashir Al-Assad, leaving Christians in peril.

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