Syria (MNN) — On Monday, EU officials agreed to begin easing sanctions on Syria. But the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, says the suspensions will be reversed if Syria’s new leaders take wrong steps.
As if to underscore this tension, reports have come that groups affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have taken a few local matters into their own hands. Dozens of people were executed this weekend in the city of Homs, many of them former Assad officers. HTS fighters entered Homs on Sunday to regain control, and arrests were made of perpetrators. But things aren’t as simple as they sound.
Tom Doyle with Uncharted Ministries helps us see the dynamics at play in Syria’s new reality.
“It’s like the Gaza Strip. We think of Hamas, but there were several terrorist groups in Gaza. The same thing in Syria. There were several groups that opposed al-Assad but also were Sunni Muslims. They weren’t all together. They each had different goals,” he says, adding that Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu al-Jolani) is trying to bring these groups together.
Rebels unfurl Syrian revolution flag inside Hafez al-Assad mausoleum, December 2024. (Photo by getty images – telegram, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156639771)
Doyle also highlights Syria’s 74% Sunni Muslim population, ruled for decades by Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite regime. “For [Sunnis] to not have control of the government for 50 years [under Assad], you can see that there’s a time of retribution that’s coming,” he says.
Doyle believes once HTS consolidates its power, the world will start seeing more grave things happen in Syria, especially for Christian minorities. He says there’s an underground church full of people who used to follow other faiths but now are followers of Jesus.
“There is a strong group of believers in Syria that are truly heroes of our faith, that have stood up through this time [under Assad]. Many of them have been beaten. Many have gone to jail. They’re watched continually by the secret police. That won’t change with this new government coming in,” Doyle says.
“So pray for the church there. Whether it be on the ground or underground, these are salt of the earth believers that are standing for Christ, and we need to stand with them during this really difficult time.”
Learn more about the work of Uncharted Ministries.
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Omar Ramadan via Unsplash.
