Are Islamists targeting Christians in Homs? Catholic groups dispute cause of exodus

March 27, 2012

A week after the Fides news agency quoted Syrian Orthodox sources as saying that Islamist forces were engaged in ethnic cleansing against Christians in Homs, local Jesuits have told Fides that Christians there are not targets of persecution.

But a leading Catholic charitable group, Aid to the Church in Need, supports the original Fides story, saying that Islamic militants have targeted the city’s Christian population.

“As far as we know, the Christians in the city of Homs have not been threatened and forced to flee their homes,” a Jesuit in Homs--Syria’s third-largest city--told Fides.

The Christian population of Homs has plummeted from 160,000 to 1,000 in the past year. Local Christians, the Jesuits said, have fled not because of Islamist persecution, but because of a desire for safety amid the conflict between government and rebel forces. But Aid to the Church in Need reports that 50,000 Christians have fled in the past 6 weeks, fearful of the "ethnic cleansing" that is being conducted by Islamic militants with ties to Al Qaida.

 

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Further information:

• The Jesuits: "Christians have fled from Homs, not thrown out by Islamists" (Fides)
• Syrian violence drives 50,000 Christians from homes (CNA)
• Islamic forces target Christians in Syria (CWN, 3/21)