While many Christians in America were enjoying their Sunday at church, Christians in civil war-torn Syria were being slaughtered, along with Muslim Alawites and other minorities.
Being mocked online or marginalized because of their faith is the only ‘persecution’ many modern American Christians ever have or ever will experience. Put simply, we have it easy here compared to the very real horror, death, and destruction that other Christians around the world suffer because of their confession of Jesus Christ as Lord.
Here’s one example happening right now in Syria.
From Newsweek
Now, with Alawites no longer in power, reports of revenge killings have emerged. Local reports have also highlighted targeted killings of Christians, who have a significant community in Latakia.
The patriarchs of Syria’s three main Christian churches, the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic Churches, issued a joint statement on Saturday condemning the violence and “massacres targeting innocent civilians.” The religious leaders called for “an immediate end to these horrific acts, which stand in stark opposition to all human and moral values.”
…Greco-Levantines World Wide, a nonprofit, wrote in an X, formerly Twitter, post on Friday: “Tony Petrus and his son Fadi Petrus, two Antiochian Greeks, were killed today in the pogrom launched by HTS against the mixed Christian and Alawite region.”
In a Saturday post, it noted: “The father of Fr. Gregorios Bishara, priest of the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, was martyred this morning at the hands of the pro-HTS armed factions that raided the city of Baniyas.”
From Sky News
The situation in Syria has been extremely dire, with recent reports indicating that hundreds of Christians and other minorities have been killed in brutal attacks. Over the past few days, clashes between Syrian security forces and militias loyal to the ousted President Bashar al-Assad have resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people, including many Christians. The violence has been described as some of the deadliest since the Syrian conflict began.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented at least 745 civilian deaths, along with 125 government security forces and 148 pro-Assad militants killed.