An untold number of Christians were among nearly 1,000 civilians massacred in renewed violence on Syria’s western coast before the government announced a ceasefire and peace deal March 10, according to reports.
The deal followed four days of fighting that ensued, it was widely reported, when Alawite gunmen loyal to ousted Alawite Syrian President Bashar Assad attempted an insurrection against current President Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who overthrew Assad in December.
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At least 973 civilians were killed in the initial attack by Alawite gunmen and killings that followed as the military and security forces intervened, the independent monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported March 9, in addition to 250 Alawite gunmen and 231 members of the Ministry of Defense and security forces.
Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN) and Christian Solidarity International are among those reporting Christian deaths, based on reports from Christian leaders as congregations call for peace. No specific number of Christian deaths is available.
‘A very black and painful day’
Maria Lozano, director of ACN International’s press and information department, told The Catholic Register that reports of Christian deaths were deeply alarming.
“Our local sources describe last Friday as ‘a very black and painful day,’ with hundreds of civilians, including some members of Christian communities, falling victim to indiscriminate violence,” The Catholic Register quoted Lozano on the second day of the violence. “According to them, the violence that erupted in the coastal region of Syria has left more than 600 civilians dead, including women, young people, doctors and pharmacists. A father and son from an evangelical church in Latakia were stopped in their car and killed in cold blood.”
In the Christian village of Belma, “where there are no weapons and most of the residents are elderly, the population endured two days of terror, with the sanctity of homes violated and property stolen,” The Catholic Register quoted ACN’s report.
John Eibner, president of Switzerland-based Christian Solidarity International, noted the impact of the violence on Christians in Syria when he asked U.S. President Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to intervene to prevent genocide.
‘Living in fear’
“Some Christian civilians were also killed in the massacre, and Christians across the country are living in fear of further violence,” Eibner wrote in his March 11 letter. He urged Trump to uphold a pledge to “protect persecuted Christians,” and to revive and pass the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, which current U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard introduced in Congress in 2017 when she was a Democratic representative from Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District. Gabbard became a Republican in 2024.
The peace deal, signed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, would bring most of Syria under control of the government, led by the anti-Assad Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Associated Press reported.
Under the deal, all Syrians regardless of religion or ethnicity would be included in the political process, which would include the Christian minority. Alawites, comprising about 10% of Syria’s 24 million people, adhere to an offshoot of Shiite Islam and are viewed as apostates by some radical Sunni.
Christians in Syria, mentioned in Acts 11 as one of the first Christian communities, have fled Syria since the civil war began in 2011, when they numbered more than 2 million.
World Watch
Open Doors, in its 2025 World Watch List, estimates 579,000 Christians remain in the country, although The Syrian Observer puts the number closer to only 300,000.
Patriarchs of the three major Christian groups in Syria denounced the killings in a statement March 8, urging peace, including leaders of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Diana Chandler and originally published by Baptist Press.
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