Contact: Jeff Sagnip, Congressman Chris Smith, 202-225-3765

 

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2013 /Standard Newswire/ -- After more than two years of civil war have claimed an estimated 100,000 lives, religious minorities in Syria continue to be killed or persecuted at an alarming rate, said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights issues.

 

"Before the war, Syria was a fairly pluralistic society, with Alawites, Shias, Ismalis, Yezidis, Druze, Christians, Jews, and Sunnis living in relative peace, side by side. The situation was far from perfect, as President Bashar al Asad's regime had a vast security apparatus in place with members inside each of the religious communities to monitor their activities," Smith said. "The Asad government was guilty of serious human rights violations, including the summary imprisonment and execution of political opponents. But relations between the various religious groups were generally not violent. That civil co-existence has ended with the war." 

 

Thomas Melia, U.S. Deputy Asst. Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, Labor, told Congress at a June 25 hearing that many Christians have reported receiving threats on their lives if they do not join the opposition efforts against the regime, and have been "driven from their homes and killed in mass as presumed supporters of the regime."

 

"We have also seen increasing lawlessness in the northern areas and increasing threats to civilian security, including kidnapping, rape, and looting," Melia said. "Syrian Orthodox archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox archbishop Paul Yazigi were kidnapped April 22 by persons unknown, and remain missing."

 

Also testifying at the congressional hearing were the Rev. Majed El Shafie, founder of One Free World International; Dr. John Eibner, Ph.D., CEO of Christian Solidarity International, and; Nina Shea, Director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute. Click here to read the witnesses statements, or watch Chairman Smith's or Asst. Secretary Melia's open remarks.

 

Eibner said the deaths of Christians does not appear to be collateral damage in warfare, but rather deliberate attacks. 

 

"Victims recounted to me details of the religious cleansing of Christian neighborhoods in Homs and Qasair by armed jihadis who threatened them with death and the destruction of their property if they did not leave their home," Eibner said. "Churches in Homs and Qasair have not only been damaged as a result of the exchange of mortars by the Syrian army and rebel forces, but have also been desecrated after falling under the control of the armed opposition."

 

Late last week a blast in an old Christian quarter of the Syrian capital Damascus left four people dead, in what Syrian state TV described as a suicide attack. Several people were injured in the attack in the Bab Sharqi neighborhood, near the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church.

           

Smith chaired the hearing, entitled "Religious Minorities in Syria: Caught in the Middle," a rare joint meeting of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

 

One 2013 report by the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic stated "The conflict has become increasingly sectarian, with the conduct of the parties becoming significantly more radicalized and militarized."

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