Syrian Christians celebrate Easter

Christians across Syria have been celebrating Easter and Holy Week according to their traditions. Christian communities have paraded through Damascus, Homs and Aleppo.

Jihadist artillery is silenced for the first time in years. The Eastern Ghouta area bordering Christian quarters in Damascus has only just been freed from jihadist control. The Syrian army gave the terrorists safe passage to the unfortunate northern town of Jarablus.

With the assistance of Russian air cover, the Syrian Army liberated Aleppo just before Christmas 2016. For the first time in five years Christians in Syria’s largest city celebrated Christ’s incarnation free from the fear of rocket attacks. And now Damascus can join them in the triumph of the Paschal Lamb.

UK opposed liberation

Western politicians, tame pundits and the mainstream media all opposed the Syrian army’s operations. They preferred the Syrian people to live under Islamist repression. One year on, Tyler Durden set out the reality of life under the jihadists here, in ‘ZeroHedge’. Writing in December 2017, he reported:

‘Christmas 2017 has been marked by carefree exuberance and a sense of relief as the city rebuilds, and as some 600,000 displaced residents return to reclaim properties and possessions, ready to resume their normal lives again.’

In the UK, only media outlets as diverse as Christian Voice, Off-Guardian and the left-wing Morning Star newspaper welcomed the news from Aleppo . The latter was even branded ‘traiterous scum’ by Labour’s Blairite John Woodcock MP for its report that Aleppo was ‘liberated’.

Such is the true support for the Syrian Christians among politicians in the mother of parliaments. You would struggle to find one MP who welcomed Aleppo’s liberation, let alone call it that.

Western and Eastern dates

According to Western practice, Easter Sunday has just gone. We are now celebrating Christ’s resurrection in Easter Week.

In contrast, Orthodox Christians are in Holy Week. Today is their Good Friday.  The method of calculating the date of Easter was supposed to have been set at the Council of Nicea in 325AD. But there is still a disparity.

(The presence of bishops from all over the Christian world at Nicea lays to rest the idea that ‘Easter’ is a ‘Roman Catholic invention.’ Nothing should even be read into the Germanic-sounding name. In most of the world, the feast is known by a word closer to the continuity of the Hebrew word for Passover, ‘pasach’. Indeed, the only time the King James Bible uses the word ‘Easter’ (Acts 12:4) it is a mistranslation (with respect!) from the Greek ‘pascha.’)

Walid Shoebat reminds us what happened to the Christian town of Maaloula in 2013.  ‘It was raided by Muslim fundamentalists and inhabitants were terrorized, tortured, forced to convert to Islam, and even murdered.’  In a symbolic victory, President Assad’s forces liberated the town just before Easter 2014.  Mr Shoebat goes on:  ‘Assad, whom the Christian population in Syria prefers by a significant margin, visited Maaloula on Easter Sunday.’

That was four years ago.  But today, Christians in Syria’s three largest cities are able to celebrate the Risen Lord Jesus together with the inhabitants of Maaloula.

Rebuilding – ‘Bricks not bombs’

Whichever calendar they follow, Syrian Christians have cause for hope. Their ordeal could be coming to an end.

We can still remember Professor Eugene Rogan, Director of the Middle East Centre in Oxford giving evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee in September 2015.

The learned Professor implored  Yasmin Qureshi MP to ‘send bricks, not bombs’ to Syria.  We reported the exchange here.

His words fell on deaf ears in Whitehall. The US and UK still want to perpetuate Syria’s suffering.

We must join the Syrian Christians in praying there will be no covert attempts to undermine Syria’s growing resurgence.  In particular, pray against any ‘false flag’ chemical weapon operations from Western-funded jihadists.

US Army: ‘Putin’s won’

It is heartening that the professional journal of the US Army, the Military Review, believes Russia – and Syria have won.

Writing in news.com.au, James Seidel says: ‘The Syrian Civil War has seen hundreds of thousands killed in more than 12 years of fighting.

‘It was sparked by an uprising during what was then known as the “Arab Spring” — a democratic surge among the newly social-media linked citizens of the Middle East. But the Arab Winter has since well and truly set in.

‘US trained and supplied Syrian rebels have failed to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Instead, they spent much of their force rolling back Islamic State.

‘”The Syrian conflict will likely enter a new phase in 2018, as both Islamic State and the Syrian opposition cease to be relevant forces, and the two coalitions seek to negotiate a postconflict settlement,” the assessment reads.’

The assessment goes on to concede the ‘Assad must go’ mantra is dead: ‘for now the main outcome of this war is that President Bashar al-Assad will stay’.

Victory for President Putin

Mr Seidel goes on to recall that in 2011, ‘then President of the United States Barack Obama declared President Assad a dictator and demanded he step aside.’

But Russia, backed by China, blocked any intervention in Syria through the United Nations. Furthermore, says Seidel, they ‘began quietly restocking Assad’s arsenal.’  However, by 2015, President Assad was ‘in trouble’.

‘His forces had retreated to a few coastal and border cities. Rebels held much of Syria’s heartland. And the black flag of Islamic State was rolling in from the Iraq desert.’

It was in 2015 that Moscow directly intervened with its combat jets supporting the Syrian Army. Today’s Christian freedom to worship in Syria’s three largest towns in a direct consequence. Seidel continues to quote from the US Army paper: ‘”Russia has only been directly involved in this conflict since September 2015, but its intervention has radically changed the war’s outcome,” the US Army publication states. “The natural question is whether Russia has, in fact, won a victory.”‘

And the answer, by the grace of God, is ‘yes’. Moscow convened the Astana peace talks, leading Seidel to say the US Army ‘also notes Moscow has won international acceptance of its role as a key player in Syria’s future.’

Despots protected Christians

The only reason why there are still Christians in Syria is because all western attempts at destabilisation failed.

In Iraq and Libya, the US and UK managed to topple admittedly despotic rulers. But those same autocrats maintained peace and security even as they cracked down on dissenters. They kept hard-line Islamists at bay and protected those nations’ Christians. These included ancient Christian communities around Mosul and the Nineveh plain who to this day speak Aramaic, the language used for everyday discourse in the Holy Land at the time of Christ.

Military action coupled with low-level subversion against Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi in the name of ‘Democracy’ unleashed every kind of Muslim fanatic. Some were prepared to advance themselves through the ballot box. Others, like Al Qaeda franchises and ISIL/ISIS/IS tried to gain power by force.

It has taken this long for the Iraqi army to regain some kind of control in northern Iraq. Some of the Aramaic Christians are returning to rebuild what is now a wasteland. Many others left for good.

Syria hosts Russian naval base

It is only by the grace of God that this time, in Syria, the West picked on an ally of Russia. Perhaps they were emboldened by their previous successes. Perhaps they really did think they and their client jihadists could overthrow President Assad. And in that event, they could deprive the hated Russians of their naval base in the Mediterranean.

The dream was worth any number of civilian deaths. Street activists paid and equipped by the Avaaz clicktivist group, itself funded by George Soros, went in to stir up a Syrian version of the ‘Arab Spring’ in late 2010.

Despite concessions from President Assad, by March 2011 Syria was on the road to civil war. Sunni Muslim defectors from the Syrian army formed what they called the ‘Free Syrian Army’ in July. They were covertly encouraged and equipped by the US and UK.

Jihadis ‘controlled’ eastern Aleppo

Al Qaeda franchises like Al-Nusra Front joined in. The money for these came from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The rebels gained territory. The India New Citizen newspaper said the ‘Jihadi groups, supported by the West and its Gulf and Turkish allies, had controlled eastern Aleppo since July 2012.’

The UK Government made much of the existence of ‘moderate’ opposition. But the New Citizen said: ‘In reality, however, these “moderate” rebels fought alongside the Jihadi groups, often under their overall command and supervision. In many cases, the weapons supplied to them by the West and the Gulf were passed on to the Nusra Front, ISIS, and other such groups, which used them against the Syrian army. Some of them were quite sophisticated, such as TOW anti-tank missiles, and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADS).’

In 2014 what is now known as ‘Islamic State’ seized vast areas of eastern Syria and northern Iraq.  And in 2014, the leaked Hillary emails show the US knew that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies were funding and equipping ISIS, as it then was.  Vice-President Joe Biden even told Harvard students about Saudi determination to take down President Assad.  Patrick Cockburn’s 2016 article in the Independent laid it all out.

Assad or the Deluge

Then in 2015 Russia came to the aid of Syria, to the consternation of the US and UK. They were still saying ‘Assad must go’. Despite that, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee in September 2015 that the Free Syrian Army was ‘a busted flush’ and that President Assad was the only guarantor of stability. ‘It’s Assad or the deluge’, said Professor Rogan.

What the deluge would have looked like may only be guessed. What has happened is bad enough. On 23rd April 2016, the United Nations and Arab League Envoy to Syria put out an estimate of 400,000 people who had died in the war to date.

But now, just now, things might be changing. There are still pockets of rebel resistance. Their main enclave is Idlib province. And to the north of Syria, Turkey is trying to ‘ethnically-cleanse’ the Kurds.  Moreover, the Kurds have ambitions for an independent ‘Kurdistan’ of North-East Syria, South-Eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. President Assad objects to that, but more to the point, so does Turkey.

Christian hope

But in all this, the hope of the risen Christ shines through in Syria. We hope and pray Syria’s Christians will play a major part in rebuilding that nation. Providentially, the fact that the refugee camps were run by jihadis meant Christians were denied access to them. Consequently, the flood of migrants across Europe through 2016 and 2017 included many sleeper jihadis but precious few Christians. By the grace of God, the Christians can start again in Syria with confidence. But above all they need our prayers and our witness to our members of Parliament.

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