Christians protest in Syria after giant Christmas tree was set ablaze
Thousands of Christians took to the streets in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday in protest after hooded men burned down a large Christmas tree in a Christian-majority town in central Syria on Monday, weeks after the fall of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The demonstrations kicked off Monday night after a video posted to social media showed perpetrators dousing a large Christmas tree and setting it on fire in the town of Al-Suqalabiyah near the city of Hama.
The burning ignites further concerns about what conditions could be like for Christians and other religious minorities under the control of rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist rebel group that led the charge to topple Assad.
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Although HTS leaders have tried to assure Christians they would protect religious minorities, many Christians remain cautious as the group tries to distance itself from roots in radical jihadist movements like Al-Qaeda. HTS is recognized as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
"We demand the rights of Christians," protesters were heard chanting in streets of Damascus' Christian neighborhoods, according to AFP. "If we're not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don't belong here any more."
The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the perpetrators were foreigners from the Islamist group Ansar al-Tawhid. HTS said foreign fighters have been detained in connection to the incident.
Video circulating online shows demonstrators chanting, "Raise your cross, raise it!" and "We are with you to death, Suqalabiyah!" according to NBC News. Others were seen holding wooden crosses and chanting, "With blood and soul, we sacrifice for Jesus," according to a video obtained by The Washington Post.
"We do not accept this," resident Laila Farkouh told the outlet. "As a Christian sect, we want our rights as Christians. We want to participate in everything and have our names and voices represented."
Talal Abdullah, a former member of the Syrian National Council from Al-Suqaylabiyah, told NBC News that HTS officials assured residents that the tree burning was unacceptable and vowed to punish those responsible.
"That night, and under the rain, they set up a new tree in the same spot, decorated it, and arrested the attackers," he said.
The al-Suqaylabiyah tree-burning came after an incident weeks earlier in Aleppo where a tree was destroyed in a Christian neighborhood but later replaced by HTS, The Telegraph reports.
In a bid to get countries to drop their terror designations and sanctions against HTS, Syria's de facto new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has tried to portray his faction as one that will be inclusive of all religious and ethnic groups.
On Tuesday, HTS announced that al-Sharaa and the heads of rebel factions merged the groups under the Syrian Ministry of Defense.
"The factions will be dissolved and the fighters will be prepared to join the Ministry of Defense, and everyone will be subject to the law," al-Sharaa was quoted as saying during a meeting with members of the Druze religious minority group.
One faction that appeared to be absent from the meeting and likely will not dissolve is the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a key United States ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, which is still fighting the Turkey-backed rebel Syrian National Army near the border with Turkey.
