Syria, in many respects, is the locus of what was Ancient Assyria — a hub of sorts, a microcosm of the disparate peoples that made up the Assyrian Empire. God calls Assyria His own handiwork.
In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:24-25)
A PATCHWORK OF PEOPLES
A patchwork of peoples including Kurds, Yazidis, Druze, Armenians, Alawites, Assyrians, Arameans, and Orthodox Christians, to give a non-exhaustive list, have been woven together in a kind of jigsaw, making up a whole work of art. God’s handiwork, the promise calls them. Of course, as you’d expect (and all the more so in the Middle East) these minority groups under a Muslim majority government are not guaranteed freedom of expression or peaceful coexistence.
In our prayers for Syria, as a concentrated version of biblical Assyria, we need to bring before the throne all those who are currently under severe threat from the jihadist groups that now form the new government. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Syrian Christians, Muslim background believers from Druze, Kurdish and Alawite communities have been abused, kidnapped, and even slaughtered with many more in hiding, or fleeing for their lives. They desperately need help.
Towards that aim, a Kurdish scholar and human rights activist from Syria came to address officials in the Israeli government about how they can help. He is a consultant with the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), concerned with protecting the rights of minority communities and went to Syria after the fall of the Assad government to observe the situation himself. He then traveled directly to Jerusalem to give his report.
THE KURDISH MUSLIM DEFENDING SYRIAN BELIEVERS AND MINORITIES
“Ah, you are Kamal Sido,” the Syrian officials said at the border. “You are welcome.” His entry into Syria was not a given. Dr. Kamal Sido is an extraordinarily brave man driven by an unparalleled passion for protecting Middle Eastern minorities — and goes to extraordinary lengths to do so..
“The old regime wanted to arrest me,” he told the border guards frankly on his arrival, “but it’s very important that you, your new government, doesn’t do the same thing. Please you must change your policy to us, the Kurds, and all minorities.”
Dr. Sido was born into a Kurdish Muslim family in Afrin, northwest Syria, which was occupied by Turkey following the end of the Syrian Civil War. He fled to Germany as a refugee in 1990, and traveled from his home there first to Jordan and then to Syria before coming to Israel to report on what he saw.
“I was in the foreign ministry in Jerusalem,” he told us. “I informed them about my trip to Syria, visiting the Druze in the southern area, Damascus, Alawites in the West, Aleppo, Kurdish groups in the north, and in Afrin,” he said. He met with Christian community leaders and heard first hand of the atrocities being committed. “I’ve seen videos of just slaughter, just slaughter. They’re just killing people,” he reported. He showed us pictures of grave stones smashed purely for bearing Kurdish inscriptions instead of Arabic, reported on massacres and no-go zones.
Of course, Muslim background believers are all the more at risk. But even though he is a Muslim, Dr. Sido believes passionately that people should be free to convert if they want to. “If I cannot change my religion, I’m not free,” he said. “Freedom of religion means the right to change religion, but a lot of people don’t think so.” He emphasized, “it’s an important part of freedom… we have to fight for this issue now because freedom of religion means the right to change it.”
Many believers have had to go into hiding for fear of their lives, and some have fled the country altogether. Global Catalytic Ministries have shared reports of letters being found on churches across Tartous and Homs in Syria, warning Christians to “convert or pay the jizya,” and other Islamist threats posted over Christian obituaries.
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A car full of believers from Lebanon bringing aid and encouragement in Syria.
It’s not just Dr. Sido who is taking great personal risks to help minorities in Syria either. A small group of Lebanese Christians have been traveling in the Kurdish area in the northeast (AAMES) and the Aleppo area to bring encouragement, help, and practical support to believers there.
While in Syria, Dr. Sido decided to honor a minority that had been entirely eradicated from the country due to persecution – Syria has no Jews left at all. Late one Friday afternoon he went into an abandoned synagogue in a historically Jewish neighborhood in Qamishli, Kurdish region of Syria to pray.
“I symbolically carried the Torah scroll… and announced the start of Shabbat in the empty synagogue. I did this to commemorate Jewish life in Qamishli. The last Jew left Qamishli in 2011. After the symbolic ceremony, I called the last Jew from Qamishli, who now lives in Israel, north of Tel Aviv, and told him about the state of the synagogue,” he relayed.
Dr. Sido warned the Israeli officials back in Jerusalem that the new government in Syria were planning to Islamicize the entire country. Not all at once like in Afghanistan, but by stealth, “step by step”, he said. “They have support and they are very driven, they want to make Syria an Islamic state, but maybe in 10-20 years.”
“The Druze and the Kurds can resist by themselves,” he said, “but not if the people they’re fighting are getting support from Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia and the Balkans.”
When asked what he would say to President Trump if he had two minutes, Dr. Kido immediately answered,
“Mr. President, you are talking about conservative values. You want freedom. You cannot support radical Muslims in Syria and Turkey. You cannot. Because radical Muslims — and I am a Muslim — are hating everything Jewish and Christian, they hate freedom. You cannot support radical Muslims. Please don’t support them. Please help freedom, peace in Syria, with all peoples. People in Syria want to live in peace and freedom with each other.”
PRAYER POINTS
▫️Pray for believers who are taking practical help and encouragement to Syria’s persecuted minorities – for wisdom, safety, God’s leading and empowering, and that their labor would be supernaturally fruitful.
▫️Pray for the family of faith who are in great danger in Syria: those from Christian backgrounds, Muslim background believers, and there are also several congregations of Druze believers in the south. Pray for their protection and security and that churches would be able to keep meeting.
▫️Pray for the truth to be quickly revealed about the intentions of the new Syrian government under Al Sharaa (formerly known as Jolani) and their multiple “agreements” allegedly protecting minorities.
▫️Pray that the international world would not abandon Syria’s minorities or trust the radical Sunni groups in power, but keep a close eye on what’s happening.
▫️Pray for the Gospel to spread in this time of upheaval and uncertainty, and for great courage among the believers.