Much confusion has been at the forefront of the latest headlines concerning Syria and its leader Bashar al-Assad. On November 29th, 2024, rebel forces entered Aleppo, Syria, re igniting a conflict over the city that began in March of 2011.  The more than 13 year conflict that began after pro democracy protests began to erupt throughout the country, culminated in a take over of the country by rebel forces on December 8th.


Led by former jihadist, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the Islamist militant group, “Hyatt Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Aleppo, causing the president, Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia essentially ending a more than a decade long civil war. 


As people around Syria began to celebrate, I will admit, my initial feeling of excitement began to turn to confusion as I scoured the news articles and commentaries that I began to read and listen to all over the internet.


Why do I care about a conflict that was happening on the other side of the world?  Why would there be any emotion at all about something that really has nothing to do with me?


Just over 11 years ago in the summer of 2013, a Syrian friend came to visit me in Colorado Springs and spent about two and a half weeks with me.  Working along side me in my business.  During his stay he was glued to the television and to social media as the conflict in his home country began to escalate; and at the time I had no idea that there was a war going on specifically in Syria.  


As an American that has experienced mostly peace in my own home country, there was a tendency to tune out events and conflicts happening in the middle east.  It seemed to just blend together with what was happening in Afghanistan and Iran and what seems to be the entire region.  In a sense, I had become numb to the events in the headlines.  


Over the course of the two weeks or so that my friend was visiting, I learned that his family had to flee the country for fear of being caught in the crossfire of the fighting.  During the first two years of the war, his families home had been destroyed and left in a pile of rubble.  I realized through listening to him that my worldview had been skewed by my personal reality of peace in the suburbs.  My perspective of daily life was confined to my reality of daily life that did not include conflict by way of potential death.


For the past 55 years, Syria has been controlled by the “Assad Regime.”  In 1970, the Minister of Defense, Hafez al-Assad (Bashar’s father) assumed the role of Presidency after a bloodless military coup.  This 7th coup attempt since 1949, has kept the Assad Regime in rule for the past 50 plus years.  Operating under the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, this government calls for unification of the Arab world into a single state.  It’s motto, “Unity, Liberty, Socialism,” refers to Arab unity and freedom from non’Arab control and interference.


The Socialist regime that has ruled for the past 6 decades has finally been overthrown!  How can we not celebrate?  After all, the regime that used chemical weapons on its own people in 2013 that saw thousands of people killed, had finally fallen.  The leadership that bombed the City of Hama in 1982 that killed upwards of 40,000 people had been ousted.  The family that oversaw the amendment of its constitution in 2000 to allow the minimum age for presidency to be lowered from 40 to 34 so that Bashar could be president was finally gone.


I decided that I needed to do a little digging into the situation to find out more about what was really happening in Syria.  Even though my friend still had family in Damascus, he hadn’t lived there since his father, a former Syrian General turned military judge, sent him and his brother  away at the age of 14, to live in America for fear of his life.  There were death threats on his and many of his family members lives because he had convicted the junior Assad of smuggling cigarettes.


I reached out to a missionary friend of mine that currently lives in the middle east to get connected to someone in Syria.  I was connected with a young man named Majd.  The Following is some of the conversation that I had with Majd.


The son of a hairdresser for a father, and a Christian missionary for a mother;  Maid grew up in a middle class family in the port city of Latakia, Syria, just across the sea from Cyprus, a three to four hour drive from Beruit, Lebanon and about a two hour drive from Aleppo where the bulk of the fighting had been happening.  Majd is also a Professional basketball player who has been studying to be a doctor at the University of Aleppo.


On November 29th, Majd was in the middle of basketball practice as missiles and bombs began flying overhead and the beginning of the final takeover began and I can only imagine what the range of emotion might be in the middle of that type of experience.  Fear? Concern? Who knows!


As the missiles continued to fly overhead, Majd received a phone call from his father in Latakia.  “Get home as soon as you can!”  So Majd quickly gathered a few of his important things and began the journey home.  What normally would have been about a 2 hour bus ride, turned into a 16 hour ordeal.  What would have typically been around 30 passengers, became over 100 as people fled the City for safety.


For the past couple of weeks, Majd has watched his country go through turmoil as the HTS Rebels have overthrown the government.  You may have seen some of the reports of underground prisons where inmates have been imprisoned for decades with no real reason why they are there.  In fact, talking to my other friend from business, he shared a story of a gentleman who had been in prison for 42 years because he drove a beautiful car across the border from another country and the government liked the car so much that they took the car and put him in prison where he was until the take down a couple of weeks ago.


Since the overthrow of the Ba’ath Party, there have been reports of kidnappings and thefts all over the city as sectarian problems have erupted between Alewites (an Islamic sect) and sunnis  (another Islamic sect).  Gun fire into the sky has become common as Allahu Akbar is shouted from muslims celebrating their victory.


For roughly the past 6 decades, Christians have been able to practice their beliefs and even attend church services and share their faith publicly in the Socialist version of Syria.  However, as uncertainty remains within the borders, Christians are starting to feel uneasy as the possibility of an Islamic government with Sharia law looms on the horizon.  


Though the temporary government insists that a fair election is coming in the near future, temporary governments have no minorities, no women and no representatives from opposing factions.


This is concerning for Christians as this would prevent them from practicing their faith publicly.  


Only time will tell if Syria will adopt a Full Islamic idealism or if it will follow a democratic system of law with fair and free elections.  


Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who in recent days has abandoned his nom de guerre (war name), and is being referred to by his birth name, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, has insisted that he is far from his days as a jihadist and is aiming for a rebrand of Syria.  


The coming days and months will be a telling sign of things to come as the war torn country of Syria aims to rebuild its identity from the past 75 years since the first coup in 1949.  


As for the Christians in Syria, they need our prayers as uncertainty clouds the coming days.  Christians like Majd and his family, and even non practicing muslims who only want to live their lives in peace, unattached to religion, could be facing a governmental structure that limits people from some of the freedoms that they have enjoyed for decades.  On the other hand, the people of Syria could be heading towards their best days in a generation in 2025.


The people of Syria are at a crossroads in their history and they could use the prayers of Christians all over the world.