Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil during the party's 10th annual conference in Sin al-Fil, on March 16, 2025. (Screenshot taken from the live broadcast on X)
BEIRUT — The head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, voiced concern on Saturday over the fate of Christians in Syria following days of sectarian violence between the Druze community and the security forces.
"I think about the fate of Christians in Syria and do not forget what happened to other religious or ethnic groups, but each of them has elements that protect their existence; the Kurds have their territory, strength and protection, the Druze have their mountain and clearly defined protection, the Alawite have their coast and will definitely have their protection, the Shiite have their religious authorities, support and protection, while the ... "Christians' geographic dispersion throughout Syria has turned into a threat to their existence; neither the East protects them nor does the West care about them. God protect Syria and Lebanon from the bloodshed that will spare no one," Bassil said in a statement.
The deadly clashes in Syria between Druze fighters and security forces have killed over 100, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The clashes come nearly five months after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and the takeover by Ahmad al-Sharaa, leader of the jihadist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, who led a coalition of rebel groups in ousting the former government.
Although the new regime initially pledged to protect minorities, clashes have broken out, particularly with Druze and Alawites, the sect to which the Assad family belongs and that ruled Syria for more than five decades. Those battles have resulted in hundreds of deaths. The violence involving Druze fighters has also prompted a response from Israel, which said it struck positions held by the new regime in Syria to “defend” the Druze minority, which also exists within Israel.
"As I see what is happening in Syria, of mass killing based on religious identity or difference of opinion, I feel pain and concern for what is happening in a country with which we share a civilizational heritage rich in diversity—any loss to this heritage, we too endure," Bassil said.
"I stand with all those who are persecuted because of their affiliation or belief. I think about the Christians of the East and what happened to them in Iraq and Palestine, and in Syria specifically, because they are paying the price for being spread across their homelands, as they do not have a territory of their own, but have lived throughout history with all the components of their homelands and fought for the project of an inclusive state on the basis that religion belongs to God and the homeland to everyone," he added.