[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 93 (Wednesday, June 26, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E978-E979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN SYRIA: CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 2013

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I chaired a joint 
hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human 
Rights, and International Organizations and the Subcommittee on the 
Middle East and North Africa. We turned our attention to an overlooked 
aspect of the crisis in Syria--the religious minorities caught in the 
middle of the conflict and apparently targeted by government forces as 
well as rebel groups.
   More than 93,000 Syrians have been killed in this horrendous and 
seemingly endless civil war. More than 4.25 million people are 
displaced within Syria, with millions more fleeing to safety in the 
surrounding countries of Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq. It is 
disturbing to note that one in five of the refugees is Christian 
although Christians in Syria make-up one in ten of the pre-war 
population of 22 million people. This would seem to indicate that 
Christians are even more fearful for their lives and safety than other 
segments of the Syrian population.
   Before the war, Syria was a fairly pluralistic society, with 
Alawites, Shias, Ismailis, Yezidis, Druze, Christians, Jews, and Sunnis 
living in relative peace, side by side. The situation was far from 
perfect, as President Bashar al Assad's regime had a vast security 
apparatus in place with members inside each of the religious 
communities to monitor their activities.
   The Assad 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. In February of this 
year, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the 
Syrian Arab Republic reported that, ``The conflict has become 
increasingly sectarian, with the conduct of the parties becoming 
significantly more radicalized and militarized.''
   This followed on an earlier Commission report stating that, ``Entire 
communities are at risk of being forced out of the country or of being 
killed inside the country. With communities believing--not without 
cause--that they face an existential threat. . . .''
   We know that early in the civil war, Assad came to view the 
Christian minority with suspicion, accusing churches of laundering 
money and goods for opposition forces and forbidding banks from 
transactions for certain churches.
   There is also evidence that the Assad regime encouraged sectarian 
tensions in order to maintain power--perhaps believing that if the 
people were afraid of Islamists commandeering a nominally secular 
state, the people would be more likely to support Assad over the 
opposition.
   In December 2012, Time Magazine reported allegations that the Assad 
regime was paying individuals to pose as opposition supporters and 
chant slogans at protests including ``The Christians to Beirut, the 
Alawites to the grave.''
   Our own government has voiced concern about the particular threat 
posed to Christians

[[Page E979]]

in Syria. According to the State Department's International Religious 
Freedom Report for 2012, ``The regime continued to frame opposition 
actions as targeting the Christian population. At the same time, it 
increased its own targeting of Christian and Alawi anti-regime 
activists in order to eliminate minority-voices that might counter its 
narrative of 'Sunni-Sponsored violence'.''
   Religious minorities seem to fear the opposition forces. Some 
prominent opposition groups (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) have a 
religious basis which has been seen as threatening to Syria's Alawite 
and Christian minorities.
   Smaller opposition factions, such as the al-Qaeda-affiliated 
jihadist al-Nusra Front, take explicitly sectarian positions. There are 
reports of incidents in which rebel forces engaged in sectarian 
violence, such as burning Shi'ite mosques.
   Christians are perceived by many in the opposition to be Assad 
loyalists, possibly due to Assad's aggressive recruitment of Christians 
into the regime militias at the start of the civil war. Other reports 
indicate that the Christians attempted to remain neutral either out of 
pacifism or concern about their rights under opposition forces.
   Christian neutrality was perceived by some opposition groups as 
loyalty to the regime. In December 2012, a rebel force believed to be 
associated with the Muslim Brotherhood released a Youtube video 
entitled, ``Warning mainly Christian cities in the province of Hama'', 
and promising attacks if they continue to support and house the pro-
Assad forces.
   Christian leaders have been targeted, such as the April 2013 
kidnapping of Mor Gregiorius Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox 
Church and Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church-both men 
still have not been returned.
   The Druze community reports being targeted as well. In March 2013, a 
Druze leader reported to Christian Solidarity International, ``Our 
people get stopped at checkpoints and are asked which sect they belong 
to. Once the militias hear that they are from Swaida [a province where 
90% of the population is Druze], our men disappear.''
   The al-Nursa Front, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist 
organization, has been blamed for much of the sectarian rhetoric and 
violence, but dozens of the opposition groups ascribe to Islamist or 
Salafist-jihadist ideologies and mingle with the Free Syrian Army--
which the U.S. may now be supporting.
   Over the last three years, the United States has committed to 
providing $250 million to various opposition groups in Syria--at least 
$117 million of which has already been funded, largely to the National 
Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. With the chemical 
weapon red line crossed, the Administration has also agreed to provide 
ammunition and small arms.
   It is not clear whether any of this new lethal assistance will go to 
the Free Syrian Army and its worrisome opposition groups.
   The Administration has also committed to send an additional $300 
million in humanitarian aid to ``vulnerable groups'' in and surrounding 
Syria. It is not clear whether distribution of this aid will be 
informed by the plight of religious minorities.
   I am very concerned that the Administration may not be taking 
seriously the targeting of religious minorities. Too often, we have 
heard from this Administration that they have bigger issues to deal 
with than the vulnerability of religious minorities.
   In the last two appropriations cycles, we have directed the 
Administration to condition aid to Egypt ($1.3 billion dollars) on 
certification that Egypt is acting to protect the religious freedom of 
its minorities. The Administration (both Secretaries Clinton and Kerry) 
refused to do so. Perhaps not surprisingly, the government of Egypt 
continues to allow attacks on Coptic Christians with impunity.
   Money talks. The United States should be using assistance to ensure 
recipient countries and entities have a plan that is implemented to 
protect vulnerable religious minorities. This is all the more critical 
in situations like Syria, where we are providing lethal aid in what has 
become sectarian tinderbox.

                          ____________________