ASIA/SYRIA - Sectarian massacres: Patriarchs of the Churches call for an end to the logic of revenge

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SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC

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Damascus (Agenzia Fides) – The Patriarchs of three indigenous Churches historically rooted in Syria have signed a joint appeal to stop the “horrible massacres” perpetrated in recent days in several provinces of the country by jihadist militias, with a particularly serious impact on the communities of the Alawite minority. They denounce an “escalation of violence that has led to attacks against innocent civilians, including women and children”.

At least 147 people have recently been killed in Syria by government militias led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, linked to Al Qaeda. The wave of violence began in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, after ambushes carried out by remnants of the former army loyal to Bashar al-Assad against members of the current Syrian Military Operations Command. The reprisals have been directed especially against Qardaha, the hometown of former President Assad, and the coastal town of Baniyas, leading to massacres and extrajudicial executions against the Alawite community, a religious minority of Shiite origin to which both the Assad family and a large part of the leaders of the former regime, overthrown in December, belong.
According to sources from the Alawite community itself, the victims of these attacks exceed 600. The appeal of the leaders of the Churches in Syria, dated Saturday, March 8, has been signed by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Yohanna X, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Youssef I Absi and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mar Ignatius Aphrem II.

On behalf of their respective Churches, the Patriarchs condemn “the massacres of innocent citizens” and demand an immediate end to these “atrocious acts, contrary to all human and moral values”. They also ask that the necessary conditions be given “to achieve the national reconciliation of the Syrian people” and to begin the transition towards a State and a society based on “the equality of citizenship”, far from “the logic of revenge and discrimination”. The Patriarchs also reject assumptions and attempts to dismember the territorial unity of the Syrian nation. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 9/3/2025)