Exclusive – Persecution Expert: Christians in Aleppo Could Face 'Beginning of the End' Under Jihadi Rule

The ancient Christian community of Syria is facing an existential threat, particularly in Aleppo, where the rise of the Islamist terror gang Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) could be the “beginning of the end,” the president of International Christian Concern (ICC), Jeff King, told Breitbart News on Wednesday.

King’s organization works globally to help Christians who face government persecution, violence from terrorists and anti-Christian mobs, and other dangers. It published its Global Persecution Index (GPI), a global assessment of the most dangerous places in the world to practice Christianity, shortly after the new year. The 2025 edition covers persecution in 2024 – posing a complicated situation for assessing Syria, as the half-century-old Assad family regime officially collapsed in December.

The GPI identified much of the Muslim world as dangerous for Christians, from Iran and Saudi Arabia to much of South Asia (including Pakistan and Afghanistan) to the Sahel region of Africa. Hundreds of millions of Christians face persecution and violence around the world outside of Islamist threats, however, most alarmingly in places like China, where the atheist communist system bans private organized prayer and punishes families who expose their children to Christianity, and India, where the Hindu nationalist government fails to curb, and sometimes enables, rampant mob violence against Christians.

King, a global expert on religious persecution, explained to Breitbart News that Syria was “definitely on our radar,” but “the fall of Assad happened incredibly fast.”

“Starting in September, HTS invaded, and Assad fell after the final assembly of the report, so they weren’t on the list,” he explained, regrettably predicting that, should the Islamist violence of HTS not be contained, Syria will surely appear in the 2026 edition.

HTS is a jihadist terror organization that began as part of al-Qaeda. It is led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani), a U.S.-designated terrorist with a history of working with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The militia was one of a long list of militias, terror groups, state actors, and others participating in the melee that arose from the Syrian Civil War, which began as a protest movement against former dictator Bashar Assad that evolved into a war after Assad used outsized violence to silence dissident civilians. Assad appeared to have largely quelled the rebellion in the years after the collapse of the Islamic State “caliphate” in 2017, but Syria never achieved a state of peace.

In late November 2024, the war suddenly resurged again as HTS stormed Aleppo, seizing it from the Assad regime without significant pushback. The victory in Aleppo was followed by a rapid march across the country that led HTS leaders to Damascus. Between December 7 and 8, Bashar Assad fled Syria, receiving political asylum in Russia and handing the country over the Sharaa.

Sharaa has since abandoned his jihadist nom de guerre and begun wearing Western-style suits. He claims he will build an “inclusive” government and has repeatedly claimed that the Islamist government expected to rise from the ashes of the Assad regime will respect religious minorities, including Christians. He has insisted, however, that Islam will be at the heart of the new government and, in some interviews, refused to offer clear answers on whether Syria would allow non-Muslims to consume and sell alcohol, claiming that “legal” experts, meaning radical clerics, will control the handling of those issues.

“We take pride in our culture, our religion and our Islam. Being part of the Islamic environment does not mean the exclusion of other sects. On the contrary, it is our duty to protect them,” Sharaa said in an interview in December.

Sharaa has also said HTS would not allow elections for at least the next four years.

The fall of Assad was greeted by celebrations in some Christian communities – particularly in Lebanon, where the Assad regime enabled Shiite jihadist violence against them – but alarm and protests by many Syrian Christians, whom Assad largely did not persecute on the grounds of their faith. Syrians have boldly taken the streets in Damascus demanding respect for women’s rights and religious diversity.

During Christmas week, Christians protested in Damascus, shouting “raise your cross up high!” and affirming that Christianity is a Syrian faith.

Those protests were fueled by an incident in al-Suqaylabiyah in which jihadists burned a Christmas tree. HTS dismissed the incident as unrelated to HTS members.

In Aleppo, King told Breitbart News, jihadists also suppressed Christmas celebrations.

“The situation for Christians in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, is dire, following the recent seizure of the city by Islamist militant group, HTS, on December 2, 2024,” he explained. “Aleppo, historically a center of religious diversity with a Christian presence dating back nearly two millennia, has seen its Christian community, once numbering 20,000, thrown into chaos.”

“Militants removed Christmas decorations from public spaces and there are reports of violence, which has instilled fear and prompted many Christians to flee,” he continued.

HTS rule creates “significant risks” for Christians, King said.

“HTS, with its al-Qaeda/ISIS roots, has historically been very violent towards Christian minorities, which should mean increased persecution,” King noted. “This situation will probably lead to Syria appearing on our Global Persecution Index next year, as there’s now less protection for minorities without Assad’s regime.”

“The broader trend across the Middle East shows a dramatic decline in Christian populations, with Syria’s own Christian community shrinking from 14 percent in 1943 to only one percent today,” he added. “The fall of Aleppo to these groups will signify the beginning of the end for one of the last significant Christian strongholds in the region if unchecked.”

King called the upcoming days and weeks “crucial” for the survival of Christianity in Syria.

“The plight of Aleppo’s Christians is part of a larger narrative where religious freedom in conflict zones is increasingly under threat,” he stated. “It’s essential for global leaders to address this crisis urgently to prevent further atrocities and to preserve the religious diversity that has been a hallmark of the Middle East for centuries.”

King called for increased international advocacy to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Syria, urgent humanitarian support, and “continuous monitoring and pressure from international bodies to ensure that any new government respects the rights of Christians and other minorities.”

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