A goldsmith was murdered by a gang of criminals for refusing to pay protection money. This incident confirms the climate of impunity and lawlessness in large areas of the country. Al-Sharaa's reassurances are of little use in a Syria that is becoming increasingly Islamised. In Beirut, the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches remembers and prays for the ‘martyrs’ of Damascus.

Damascus (AsiaNews) - The murder of a Homs businessman is fuelling tensions and fears among the Christian community in Syria, torn between the desire to remain in their homeland and contribute to its rebirth after years of war and the flight of Bashar al-Assad, and the choice to emigrate.

The latest case of violence - with the memory of the massacre at St. Elias Church in Damascus still fresh - involved George Ishoh, a goldsmith from an Assyrian family in Hassakeh, in the north-east, who was murdered by a gang of criminals for refusing to pay protection money.

This incident confirms, once again, the climate of impunity and lawlessness in large areas of the country, despite the reassurances of interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa and the men of HTS (Tahrir al-Sham), who were able to overthrow the old regime in a matter of weeks.

Local sources report that the Christian merchant, father of two children, was shot dead by armed and masked men outside his home in the al-Mahatta neighbourhood on the evening of 9 July. Ishoh had previously refused to pay protection money to an armed gang, which led to his “sentence”.

The attackers opened fire, hitting him in the head, and then fled. Neighbours rushed him to the university hospital in an attempt to save his life, but his injuries proved fatal. At the time of the murder, Ishoh was alone at home. His wife, originally from the village of Rûm ad al-Qalatia in the Wadi al-Nasara (Valley of the Christians), and his children were not in the city.

Following the attack on the Greek Orthodox church of Mar Elias in Damascus, which claimed dozens of lives, Christians had called for increased security measures throughout the country and, above all, in areas at risk where there is a significant minority presence.

However, incidents of various kinds, ranging from intimidation to murder, have not only continued but have also intensified, partly due to the widespread availability of weapons and the lack of accountability and controls.

Local sources say that murders, kidnappings and robberies continue without any concrete measures being taken to combat them, demonstrating that the government is failing to keep its promise to protect all groups after the massacre on 22 June.

Meanwhile, the memory of the massacre at the Greek Orthodox church in Damascus, which left 35 dead and over 60 wounded, is still alive among Christians.

More than two weeks later, the motive is still unclear, with the government accusing the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), which has not denied any involvement in the attack, which was later claimed by a little-known group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, believed to be composed of HTS defectors.

According to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Syrian government banned proselytising after Salafists targeted an area in front of the Christian building - where the worst attack against Christians in the Syrian capital since 1860 took place - at the end of March.

This, according to some, could be the reason why the jihadists targeted the church of St. Elias in particular.

For many Christians, the al-Sharaa government is more interested in implementing a Sharia-inspired dress code, which is also binding on religious minorities, than in ensuring protection and security for the population, even snubbing recent threats of attacks.

Christians made up about 10% of Syria's 23 million inhabitants before the war and enjoyed freedom of worship under Assad, as well as holding high government and institutional positions in some cases.

Initially, many Christians were willing to give the new authorities a chance: in a survey conducted in May by Etana, 85% of Sunnis said they felt safe under the current authorities, compared to 21% of Alawites and 18% of Druze.

Christians were in the middle, at 45%. However, now ‘fear has increased,’ said politician Ayman Abdel Nour, who recently met with religious leaders, who also confirmed that many Christians want to leave, seeing migration as the only solution.

In some Christian neighbourhoods, religious and fanatical Muslims marched through the streets with loudspeakers calling on people to convert to Islam, while bearded men beat up men and women partying in the capital's nightclubs.

The critical situation in Syria and the threat hanging over Christians was also the subject of the regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches, held in Beirut on 9 and 10 July.

At the beginning of the meeting, the participants - leaders, patriarchs and representatives of various countries in the region, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon - observed a minute of silence and prayer for the victims of the ‘martyrs’ killed in the attack on Mar Elias.

In their final statement, they condemned ‘all forms of violence, wherever it comes from’ and denounced those who incite ‘hatred, extremism, racism and acts of violence’ against humanity.

‘The blood of the martyrs is one, the crime is reprehensible,’ the statement concludes, because ‘it affects not only Christians, but the entire Syrian fabric and the historic model of coexistence.’