DAMASCUS — This Christmas morning in Syria’s capital, Christians dressed in their finest clothes, attended church and participated in the annual parade through the ancient part of the city. Yet beneath the holiday cheer lay a heavy sense of anxiety.
Over the past 13 years, many have fled the country, leaving those who remain feeling particularly vulnerable as an Islamist group assumes power. Before the war began in 2011, Syria was home to more than 1.5 million Christians. Today, Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II of the Syriac Orthodox Church estimates that number has fallen to around 400,000.
