Persecution of minority communities

Syria: Christians Attacked by a Mob, Then Summoned by the Police

On October 3, a mob from a neighbouring Sunni town raided Suqaylabiyah, a Christian town in central Syria, once again. The security forces then summoned sixteen of its young men for questioning. The same week, at least ten Alawites were killed in two separate shootings. In the new Syria, justice is even-handed: it also takes an interest in the victims.

By Delirium Islamicum Published October 16, 2026

Suqaylabiyah, October 2026. Equal before the law: questions for the victims, tea for the attackers.

A quarrel among young men, with gunfire

On October 3, two young men from Qalaat al-Madiq, a Sunni town four kilometres away, tried to intimidate a shopkeeper in Suqaylabiyah, a mostly Greek Orthodox town near Hama. They were beaten up, went home and came back at night with a mob, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Houses and shops were looted, shots were fired at random, and an Alawite woman was slightly injured.

State media reported a quarrel among young men that ended in an attack on a shop, in the singular. The Hama governorate blamed "systematic incitement among the components of the Syrian people", without saying which component had brought the guns. The Ghab district director promised a legal process "without generalizations". Saying who attacked whom would apparently be one.

"Syrian Christians are not seeking chaos or revenge."— Father Fadi Sankari, Orthodox priest of Suqaylabiyah, on Facebook

Equal before the law, especially the victims

The security forces arrested people in both towns, including two Christians, released on October 5, who had been held over later scuffles with suspected attackers. Above all, residents say, they confined the people of Suqaylabiyah to their homes instead of chasing the raiders. Sixteen young Christian men were then summoned for questioning, according to SyriacPress, and some of the town's detainees were taken to a security centre in Qalaat al-Madiq, following complaints from residents there. Some of the complainants had reportedly taken part in the raid. Home advantage. On October 13, their fate was still unknown.

Reconciliation, Syrian style

The town knows the routine. In December 2024, two weeks after Assad's fall, hooded fighters set its Christmas tree on fire. The new rulers blamed foreigners and promised a quick fix.

"The tree will be restored and lit up by tomorrow morning."— A Hayat Tahrir al-Sham religious leader, December 2024

On March 27, 2026, after young women were allegedly harassed, dozens of men drove past the checkpoints unhindered, looted shops and fired at cafés and at a statue of the Virgin Mary, according to the rights group Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ). One witness says a patrol answered his call for help with "Get lost", then accompanied the attackers. The churches cancelled public Easter celebrations. The reconciliation deed signed on April 11, under the aegis of the Ghab district, provided for a damage assessment committee and the dropping of legal claims. By May, STJ found, no victim had been compensated.

Open Doors now ranks Syria sixth among the countries where Christians are most persecuted, up from eighteenth a year earlier.

Identity checks, under new management

The Alawites, Assad's community, fare worse. Late on September 30, gunmen posing as security forces stopped a minibus taking workers home near the Masyaf bridge, in the Homs countryside, checked their identities and opened fire, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least seven people were killed, all Alawites according to the Observatory. Identity checks have survived the fall of the regime: only the checkers have changed. Homs's internal security commander swore the crime "will not go unpunished". On October 4, three young Alawite men were shot dead near Tartus. The coastal massacres of March 2025, in which a government committee counted 1,426 Alawite dead, got their first verdicts eighteen months later.

Suqaylabiyah had about 20,000 inhabitants when Assad fell. It has about 16,000 left, according to The National. At this pace, the authorities will soon be able to announce that calm has returned for good.

Verses and hadiths related to this article

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled.”

“O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as guardians—they are guardians of each other. Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.”

“The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah,” while the Christians say, “The Messiah is the son of Allah.” Such are their baseless assertions, only parroting the words of earlier disbelievers. May Allah condemn them! How can they be deluded from the truth?”

“You already have an excellent example in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, “We totally dissociate ourselves from you and shun whatever idols you worship besides Allah. We reject you. The enmity and hatred that has arisen between us and you will last until you believe in Allah alone.” The only exception is when Abraham said to his father, “I will seek forgiveness for you,” adding, “but I cannot protect you from Allah at all.” The believers prayed, “Our Lord! In You we trust. And to You we always turn. And to You is the final return.”

“Narrated `Aisha and Ibn `Abbas: On his death-bed Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) put a sheet over his-face and when he felt hot, he would remove it from his face. When in that state (of putting and removing the sheet) he said, "May Allah's Curse be on the Jews and the Christians for they build places of worship at the graves of their prophets." (By that) he intended to warn (the Muslim) from what they (i.e. Jews and Christians) had done.”

Narrated `Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"

“Indeed, those who disbelieve from the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the Fire of Hell, to stay there forever. They are the worst of all beings. Indeed, those who believe and do good—they are the best of all beings.”