Since Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December 2024, Syria has descended into chaos, with Christians facing brutal persecution from Sunni extremist factions tied to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led interim government.
Reports from March 2025 detail a genocide unfolding, particularly in coastal areas like Latakia and Tartus, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recorded over 1,300 deaths in 72 hours—many Christians and Alawites targeted in sectarian killings. Once 1.5 million strong, Syria’s Christian population has shrunk to 300,000, ravaged by years of war and renewed atrocities.
GROK: In the latest wave of violence against Christians and other minorities in Syria, particularly following the escalation that began around March 6, 2025, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports over 1,300 people killed in a 72-hour period ending around March 9-10, 2025. This figure includes 830 civilians—mostly Alawites but also some Christians—killed in revenge attacks, alongside 231 government security forces and 250 pro-Assad Alawite militants. The violence, centered in coastal regions like Latakia and Tartus, marks the deadliest surge since Assad’s fall in December 2024. Other estimates on X and unverified reports suggest higher numbers, some claiming up to 7,000, but these lack official confirmation. The SOHR’s tally is the most cited and consistent across sources like NPR, Reuters, and Euronews, though the exact count of Christians specifically killed remains unclear, with at least three confirmed by Open Doors. The situation is fluid, and the death toll may rise as more data emerges.
Amid this bloodshed, Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base near Latakia has emerged as a lifeline. Posts on X and reports from early 2025 describe thousands of Christians fleeing to the base, seeking protection from jihadist massacres. Russian forces, maintaining control despite HTS advances, have offered sanctuary, with accounts of soldiers guarding refugees from the violence engulfing cities like Banias. This echoes Russia’s historical support for Assad, who protected minorities, but now pits them against the same rebels they once bombed.
The interim government, under Ahmed al-Sharaa, has pledged to protect minorities, but the violence suggests otherwise. Revenge killings against Alawites and Christians have escalated, with no effective security to stop them. The U.S. State Department has condemned these acts, but international intervention remains absent. In fact, while Syrian Christians are being persecuted and killed in Syria, Syrian Muslims are walking through German cities shouting ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
Christians, a community tracing back to the faith’s earliest days, are again bearing a heavy burden, with some facing execution-style deaths or worse. The echoes of past genocides—recognized by the U.S. and EU in 2016—resound as Syria’s multiculturalism erodes under unchecked Islamic extremism.
Trump predicted this in 2015
“The problem in Syria is we have no idea who the other side are. Maybe we’re better off with Assad. We give (the Rebels) weapons and ammunition but, to me, Assad looks better than the other side.”