Syrian Coalition: Assad Regime Converts Churches to Military Barracks

The Syrian Coalition called on the world’s influential Christian figures to stop the regime’s systematic destruction of Syria’s religious and cultural heritage and to take a firm stand condemning the silencing of the Orthodox Church in Al Kalamoon about the systematic destruction and murder being committed in the area by the regime. The Syrian Coalition’s call comes after the Assad regime converted “Der Cherubim, a historic Christian site in Sidnaya, to a military headquarters from which it targets civilians.” The Syrian Coalition expressed “fear that the regime may use the people as human shields in Sidnaya, after it has used religious sanctuaries as military bastions.” Furthermore, the Syrian Coalition called on the international community to put an immediate end “to the violation against religious sanctuaries, Islamic and Christian” by the Assad regime in Syria. The Syrian Coalition also stated that the Assad regime has destroyed approximately 3000 mosques and dozens of churches “in what analysts refer to as an effort to eliminate all sanctuaries and symbols that would unite the Syrians’ voices against it.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)