Respite in Homs: Barnabas Fund on hand with aid for Christians

Barnabas Fund is on hand to get emergency aid to Christians who have been trapped in Homs following the withdrawal of anti-government forces from the Baba Amr district.

Syrian Christians fear their country is heading the same way as Iraq Bernard Gagnon / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) said yesterday (Thursday 1 March) that it was pulling out of the area, which has been devastated in a month-long siege.

A major humanitarian relief effort is now underway to help Baba Amr residents, who are without power and running out of basic supplies in freezing weather conditions.

Barnabas Fund is working, through church partners on the ground in Homs and the surrounding areas, to get food, clothing and medicine to Christian families in urgent need.

“Human shields”

A senior Christian leader told Barnabas Fund that until Monday (27 February), people, including Christians, had been blocked from leaving Homs by anti-government forces. He said that the fighters wanted to keep them there as “human shields” in a bid to protect the areas they controlled from government troops. After negotiation, some, particularly women and children, were allowed to leave on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a bomb fell on the roof of an 81-year-old female church worker who is in charge of a church-run home for the elderly in Homs. She was not in the room at the time. Two bombs were also discovered in a church yard in the city; they did not explode.

Elsewhere, Christian families who can are leaving Syria altogether, seeking refuge in neighbouring Lebanon.

One of our partners in Syria said:

The security status is alarming very much and mostly Christians fear what the present and near future is holding for them. Already people who have left their homes are not sure if they can go back to it.

Our Christian people say, “we know of what happened in Iraq and so we had better leave before we are killed.”

Following the fall of Saddam Hussein after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Christians became the target of Muslim extremists. The Christian community has been beset by kidnappings and killings, and many churches have been attacked. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee; many of them went to Syria.

The same pattern is now starting to emerge in Syria; al-Qaeda militants are believed to be coming into the country and killing Christians, and Christians are being kidnapped by Muslim groups.

With international pressure mounting on President Assad’s regime, the possibility of another Western military campaign in the Middle East is increasing.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, said:

While I am relieved that the withdrawal of anti-government forces from Baba Amr provides the opportunity for a respite for some of the suffering residents of that city, I fear that the crisis in Syria is only going to intensify. Foreign military intervention could lead to a long and protracted war in which Christians, as perceived supporters of President Assad, would be particularly vulnerable; they are already suffering abuse and violence at the hands of the Free Syrian Army. Today we have a window of opportunity to alleviate the distress of the Christian families who have been trapped in Homs. Please help us to help them.

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