Fr. Mark Hodges posted the article below the line on his substack just a few days ago, and already the situation in Syria for Christians and other minorities has deteriorated even further. Below is a statement from Greek Member of Parliament Nikolas Farantouris, a member of the European Parliament’s Committe on Security and Defense. MP Farntouris visited Damascus from March 8th-9th 2025, including attending the Sunday of Orthodox with the Patriarch of Antioch:
“As a member of the Security and Defense Committee, the Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament, I paid a two-day visit to Damascus on 8-9 March at the invitation of the Patriarch.
“On Sunday (of Orthodoxy), I attended the service in the Patriarchal Church together with [Greek Orthodox] Patriarch John X of Antioch and we had a long private meeting on the developments. I then met with representatives of national and religious communities, while I also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the new regime and spoke with the heads of International and European Affairs.
“Reliable data indicate 7,000 Christians and Alawites slaughtered and unprecedented atrocities against civilians. Christian and other communities with a millennial presence in this region are at risk of extinction.
“The new Islamic regime is leading Syria into an Islamic state and is claiming that it cannot control the paramilitaries and the gangs associated with them who attack innocent civilians.
“Patriarch John X made a shocking appeal yesterday, Orthodox Sunday, to stop the bloodshed, while in our private meeting he pointed out the tragic shortages of food and medicine that Christians are facing.
“I call on the Greek Government and the governments of [EU] Member States, to act NOW. Neither Greece nor the EU can continue to show tolerance and be limited to ceremonial visits and courtesies with the Islamic regime for investments and ‘business’ while thousands of civilians are being slaughtered with its acquiescence, if not its guidance. Measures must be taken here and now before it is entirely too late.”
Nicholas pondered in a recent post, Will President Trump Save the Persecuted Christians?, if the Trump Administration would be willing to prioritize Christian security in Syria. So far, the answer is – not at all. The Trump Administration and the MSM are largely ignoring what is happening in Syria. They are all much more concerned with the supposed wave of “antisemitism” in the U.S., than they are with Syrian Christians suffering and dying as a direct result of American policies.
This will not sit well with many Americans, but the truth is the truth. Russia was right to back the Assad regime over the collection of Islamist terrorists, thugs, and Jihadis the West and Turkey assembled to overthrow his regime. In the chaos that now prevails, it is the Russians, not the Americans, who are protecting thousands and thousands of Syrian Christians at their airbase in Syria. (Fr. Mark’s article below the line has more pictures of this mission of mercy. The Russian commander has personally guaranteed the safety of everyone sheltering on his base.)
The recent scandals involving USAID have deflected attention from an issue way deeper than just U.S. money going for “WOKE” programs such as promoting DEI initiatives and abortion rights in foreign countries. USAID has been at the heart of a U.S. regime-change apparatus that is still very much alive, funded, and coordinating among multiple U.S. agencies. When the U.S. sponsors a regime change, whether in Ukraine or Syria or anywhere else, Christians die. Opposition to USAID and the American regime-change engine is not just about saving tax payer money. It is also about saving Christian lives.
—OR Staff
by Fr. Mark Hodges from his substack. Originally published March 7th, with an update on March 8th, 2025.
Over 100 Christians were massacred in Syria in less than a day. “This is officially a genocide.”
“Ramadan is a time of deep reflection, generosity, and uniting communities”, they say. What a lie. Islam is the most violent system of belief in human history.
U.S. Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified that the Syrian leadership is “persecuting, arresting, and killing religious minorities like Christians in Syria.”
This is Biden’s doing, although it has been a U.S. intention to overthrow Assad for many years. Biden told the American people that this new government was going to serve ALL Syrians. He even sent them ‘humanitarian aid.’
Instead, Islamic militia take up positions inside of hospitals so they can gun down any Christian, Alawite or Druze seeking medical attention.
“I hate that we have leaders who cozy up to Islamist extremists, minimizing them to so-called rebels,” Gabbard said. “Syria is now controlled by an al-Qaeda offshoot, HTS, responsible for the killing of many American service members.”
Those “moderate” rebels are right now wiping out entire minority communities. Piles of dead bodies litter the streets.
The media called them “liberators.”
Islamists in Syria are dropping fire bombs on civilian communities. They are targeting the Christians, Druze, and Alawites.
The media continues to remain silent. Just like the slaughter of Christians in Congo, Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, and on and on. It doesn’t fit the liberal media narrative, and cannot be blamed on Israel. [OR Staff Note: Just a quibble here, Israel is occupying Syrian territory as a ‘buffer zone’ and is building multiple military bases there. Israeli occupation and continuing airstrikes against former Assad military assets are certainly not helping the situation.]
They are forcing Alawite Muslims to crawl on all fours and bark like dogs before executing them. The same “human rights activists” who screamed in outrage when Israel took out Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles are completely silent as Arabs butcher their own people in the most barbaric ways imaginable.
The Russians were right to back Bashar Al-Assad. Meanwhile, the Russians are giving shelter to the Christian, Druze and Alawite women and children at the Khmeimim Airbase in Syria.
Pray. And speak out.
Update Saturday March 8th: By midnight in Latakia, over 7,000 people had already taken refuge at the Russian airbase in Khmeimim, on the coast of Syria. Mostly women, children and the elderly. The Russian military has deployed field kitchens and is providing assistance to women and children. The commander of the Russian base says he will personally ensure the safety of all those who have fled. Outside the base, they face death at the hands of Islamicists. All of this is reminiscent of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
“While the West fueled chaos in Syria with its regime change agenda, turning ordinary citizens’ lives into a nightmare, those same people had to seek refuge at Russia’s Khmeimim airbase, hiding there to escape the bloodshed unleashed by Western interference.”
WHERE IS THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY?
More on the Killing at Greek City Times.
This is a link to a thread on X with extremely graphic, unedited video of many executions going on now in Syria. I include it only for documentation purposes. It is NOT recommended to watch.
