One of the world’s oldest Christian communities is facing extermination from jihadists, as Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda have seized the Syrian city of Aleppo –home to an estimated 3.5 million people, including more than 50,000 Christians.
While Aleppo has seen a mass exodus of some 200,000 Christians in the past 12 years, the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of large parts of the city on Sunday, prompting warnings from persecution watchers of a fresh “religious cleansing” of Christians.
“It looks like we are now heading for another major crisis for Syrian Christians,” Dr. Martin Parsons, director of The Lindisfarne Centre for the Study of Christian Persecution, told The Stream. “Christian aid agencies need to prepare for a massive relief operation.”
“Effective and Deadly” Muslim Militants
Parsons explained that HTS is a direct affiliate of Al Qaeda set up under the name of the Jabhat al-Nusra Front in 2011 with the help of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
The BBC described HTS as “one of the most effective and deadly of the groups” ranged against Syria’s President Bashir al-Assad, driven primarily by “jihadist ideology” rather than “revolutionary zeal.” […]
— Read More: stream.org
