Are Christians being massacred in Syria?

At least 1,383 civilians have been massacred in Syria in recent weeks after deadly clashes broke out between the security forces and supporters of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, who is Alawite, according to the latest report from Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), published on March 12. 

The SOHR said most of the victims are Alawite civilians, killed in reprisal attacks carried out by security forces or pro-government fighters.

At least 125 security personnel and 145 pro-Assad fighters also died in related clashes, according to the Observatory's figures.

The Syrian government has attributed the attacks on civilians to "individual actions". In a televised address, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he would hold those responsible accountable.

Former French Prime Minister François Fillon wrote on X on March 9 that "massacres of Alawite and Christian civilians” were ongoing in Syria. He also called on current French President Emmanuel Macron to take action against what could become, according to him, "a systematic operation to eliminate Alawite and Christian populations”. 

The fear that Christians are under attack has been picked up by some figures within the far-right, including British influencer Peter Sweden, who spoke out on X on March 8 about a "genocide" taking place in Syria and Australian populist politician George Christensen who posted about what he said was “the greatest Christian persecution of our time".

While some people from Syria’s Christian minority have certainly been killed in the violence, there has also been false information spreading about this online. The FRANCE 24 Observers team has been looking into this to determine what is true and what is false.

• Was this priest really assassinated? No, that’s fake news.

Social media users have been widely sharing a post from a pro-Iranian account that claims that “Al-Jolani’s gang”, a reference to security forces who report to current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, executed a priest named Yohanna Youssef Boutros, said to be "the spiritual father of St. Elias Church" in Tartus, in western Syria. The post from March 9 also features a photo that apparently shows the priest who was killed. 

It turns out, however, that this priest doesn’t exist. The archdiocese of Tartus posted a message on its Facebook page on March 9 stating that there was no priest named Yohanna Boutros working in the area. The archdiocese further stated that this fake news about the priest’s death spreading on social media is a “shame". The post was illustrated with a banner featuring the word “fake” in Arabic.  

So who is the priest in the photo shared on X? Our team carried out a reverse image search (check out our handy guide to find out how) and discovered that the image comes from a YouTube video. From this, we were able to identify him. The man is an archimandrite – a religious superior in the Orthodox Church – named Romanos al-Hannat. There has been no indication from the Syrian Orthodox Church that al-Hannat was murdered.  

• Is the patriarchate of Antioch really telling civilians to take shelter in their churches? The Church authorities say no.

In an alarmist Facebook post shared on March 8, Syria’s Greek Orthodox Church seemed to be calling for Syrian civilians of all faiths to take refuge in their nearest church due to violent attacks on the patriarchate of Antioch. 

"All churches and monasteries of the coast open their doors to families and civilians,” the post reads. 

However, this message didn’t come from the patriarchate of Antioch. The patriarchate posted a screengrab of the message on their own Facebook page on March 9 along with a banner reading “fake".

"Some pages are publishing and circulating news that is not from the Patriarchate,” the post reads, in Arabic. “The Patriarchate wants to reiterate that all of its news is published and distributed on the official Facebook page of the Patriarchate."

'Lots of innocent Christian civilians have lost their lives,' says the Patriarchate of Antioch

While the Patriarchate did deny the fake news that had been circulating, they also spoke out against the massacre of Christian civilians. 

In a sermon given on March 9, Jean X, the patriarch of Antioch, whose seat is in Damascus, called on President al-Sharaa to put “an immediate end to all massacres". 

"Many innocent Christian civilians have lost their lives,” Jean X said in his sermon. “Many towns, localities and villages have seen their homes burned and belongings stolen. The areas targeted are home to Alawites and Christians.”  

George Sabe, a Marist brother in Aleppo, told Vatican News that there has been a “real ethnic massacre of many Christians along the coast". He said that Syrian Christians were “panicking” and that many wanted to flee the country. He said that these fears had been exacerbated by the disconnect between assurances that the government has made to religious communities in Syria and the reality on the ground.

At least seven confirmed Christian victims 

At least seven Christians were among the dead as of March 10, according to French news agency AFP. A man and his son were killed in Latakia, four members of a family were killed in their home in a majority Alawite neighborhood of the city and the father of an Orthodox priest was killed in Baniyas, in western Syria. 

An eyewitness who requested anonymity told the AFP that more victims were killed when they found themselves caught in the crossfire during clashes. 

French Catholic newspaper La Croix reported that Christians were not being deliberately targeted by armed groups. The Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs, Monseigneur Jacques Mourad, told the newspaper that 12 Christians had been killed. He said they had not been killed for their religion, but because they were living in Alawite neighbourhoods. 

"Saying that Christians were victims of the government isn’t correct and saying so would put them in danger,” he said.