A window of opportunity to help Syrians establish a stable, pluralistic state is open but will remain so only briefly. That is the assessment of Sean Callahan, the president and chief executive of Catholic Relief Services. He said it is imperative that the Trump administration and international partners and donors seize the moment to help direct Syria toward a “safer, more secure and prosperous future.”
Mr. Callahan recently checked in on conditions in Syria during a fact-finding mission from June 28 through July 2, in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in a Christian neighborhood of Damascus on June 22. That attack on the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church, reminiscent of the worst days of the civil war, left 25 people dead.
Before the civil war began in 2011, Syria’s 1.5 million Christians represented about 10 percent of the nation’s population. Now as few as 300,000 may remain. This remnant Christian community could become even further reduced if a stable Syria with reliable protections for its Christian, Alawite, Shiite and Druse minorities is not achieved. The nation was torn by 13 years of conflict that pitted the al-Assad dynasty and its supporters, primarily in the Shiite and Alawite communities, against Sunni rebel forces that had included extremists Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Now a vast Syrian refugee community is watching events unfold in their homeland with trepidation and hope, Mr. Callahan said. The attack on Mar Elias could prove “a giant setback” for Syrian Christians who had been hearing leaders from the transitional government say many positive things about a society and a government of inclusion. For many, the question of whether to stay and help Syria rebuild—or instead join the Christian exodus to Lebanon or Europe to escape future chaos and bloodshed—remains pre-eminent.
“The anxiety of the Christian community came to a peak with the horror of that suicide bombing,” Mr. Callahan said, “to the degree that young people that we met in different places said, ‘I’m afraid even to go to church now.’”
During a requiem Mass in Syria for the victims of the attack, Mr. Callahan said, he could not help but notice mothers who kept “looking at the back door all the time as their kids were taking up the offertory gifts.”
Government officials described the attack to Mr. Callahan as an “abomination” and insisted that the transitional government was taking steps to protect Syria’s Christians, aware of the widespread security concerns in the community. Mr. Callahan did note new security efforts, including checkpoints and armed guards, to protect Christian sites and communities in the aftermath of the attack, which has been blamed on the re-emergence of sleeper cells of the Islamic State.
Mr. Callahan said that President Donald Trump’s recent overtures to Syria’s leadership, including the lifting of economic and political sanctions, was appreciated not just within the transitional government but among average Syrians. The State Department has taken steps to diplomatically normalize Syria’s new leadership, dropping its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Sunni rebel force that toppled Bashar al-Assad last winter, as a terrorist group; it has also lifted the bounty it had once placed on Ahmed al-Shara, the H.T.S. leader of who now heads the transitional government.
“Here’s an opportunity with some investment to really consolidate those gains,” Mr. Callahan said. “We can miss the opportunity and then [end up with] a fractious Syria,” he added. “This thing could go south pretty quick,” Mr. Callahan said. “I don’t think any of us want to see that happen.”
“Now is the time for [the U.S. State Department] to make sure that they put some [resources] in that are going to help the people in need,” he said.
Just days after his conversation with America, the fragility of Syria’s progress became even more evident when a new conflict erupted.
Sunni government forces had been dispatched to put an end to tit-for-tat attacks between Sunni Bedouin and Druse community members in northern Syria near the border with Israel. But that intervention merely escalated the disorder and prompted Israel, defending the Druse, to launch airstrikes on Syrian government positions and at defense ministry targets in Damascus on July 16. A hastily declared cease-fire is still holding on July 17.
The brief opening to shore up progress toward stability in Syria unfortunately coincides with Trump administration decisions to sharply curtail humanitarian and development assistance and to terminate the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had funded humanitarian and peace-promoting programs in Syria. Mr. Callahan said C.R.S. is planning to use its own resources to keep some of those programs open at least in the short term, but he hopes to convince the State Department to reconsider how it can play a constructive role in the region.
Mr. Callahan toured humanitarian efforts in Damascus, Hama and Aleppo, cities that have been attempting to rebuild after years of civil war and disorder. Mr. Callahan’s five-day visit included meetings with church and government officials and representatives from regional humanitarian organizations, including Caritas Internationalis, Jesuit Refugee Service and SARD, the Syrian Association for Relief and Development.
He saw much of the lingering ruin from the civil war but also signs of “people coming back.” Impressed by the commitment and talent of the Syrian young professionals he met, he described these government and private sector professionals as hopeful but deeply aware of the many communal and diplomatic challenges ahead.
“People are wanting to hope, but at the same time they’re realistic.” They hear the government say the right things, but they are waiting to see actions that back that up, he said.
“People found [the C.R.S. team] a little bit of a curiosity. It seemed to be uplifting to them that some foreigners came in and were looking at [how they could help Syria], and they were asking us how we saw it. Did we see hope for Syria?” Mr. Callahan said.
“I think many of them are trying to make their own decision: Do they continue to invest in their country or do they find a way out?”
More from America
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- What does the future hold for Christians in Syria after Assad?
- Trump closing U.S.A.I.D. could cost an estimated 14 million lives by 2030
- What will the fall of al-Assad mean for Syria’s ancient Christian community?
- Europe wants to deport Syrian refugees. Is their homeland ready for them?
A deeper dive
- Who are the Druze in Syria, and why are they clashing with government forces?
- From rubble to rebirth: A model for Syria’s reconstruction
- Three Requisites for Syria’s Reconstruction Process
- After Fall of Assad Dynasty, Syria’s Risky New Moment
- Syria's beleaguered Christians
The Weekly Dispatch takes a deep dive into breaking events and issues of significance around our world and our nation today, providing the background readers need to make better sense of the headlines speeding past us each week. For more news and analysis from around the world, visit Dispatches.
