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Syria’s ancient Christian communities could face new threats during a period of uncertainty and change in Syria, even as the Islamist rebels who toppled Dictator Bashar al-Assad promise to respect their rights and property. 

It was in the city of Antioch in ancient Syria where the followers of Jesus Christ were first labeled Christians. Today, those same Christian churches that trace their roots back to the early evangelization in Syria have endured centuries of sectarian conflict as a minority group in an Arab and Islamic society. 

Syria’s 13-year civil war and subsequent rise of ISIS has devastated the country’s Christians and reduced their population. Now, that civil war between Assad and several rebel groups came to an abrupt end Sunday as the ruling dynasty fled the country for safe haven in Russia as opposition militants flooded the capital of Damascus as civilians celebrated. 

The rapid success of a militant offensive from the Northern Idlib province proved too much for Assad’s forces to handle. This time, the dictator’s staunch ally Russia was distracted by its ongoing war in Ukraine and failed to bail out the Syrian regime. 

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, head of the lead militant group opposing Assad, declared victory on Sunday in the historic mosque in the center of Damascus, declaring that a “new history” has been written. 

Despite emerging as Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the leading opposition group headed by al-Jolani has rebranded in recent years and as it swept the country it has repeatedly promised would protect the rights of all Syrian sects, including Christians. 

“No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them,” al-Jolani said in an interview with CNN. 

Yet, the groups, now known as Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), is still designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and generally advocates for the imposition of Sharia law in Syria, making the future of Christians in the war-torn nation uncertain. 

Historically, changes in the status quo, even the end of a brutal dictatorship, have resulted in hardship for Christians. For example, the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq led to an increase in sectarian conflict and created the conditions for the rise of ISIS, which forced the ancient Christians there to flee or face death. 

According the United Nations, the 700,000 Christians that remained there since Hussein’s fall suffered “forced transfer, persecution, pillage, sexual violence and slavery, and other inhuman acts such as forced conversions and the intentional destruction of cultural heritage” under the brief rule of the Islamic State. Today, there are between 150,000 and 200,000, according the Wilson Center. 

These historical dangers have led some Christians to support the Assad regime out of fear of the alternatives. 

In 2015, in an interview with Crux, the former Archbishop of of Aleppo Jean-Clement Jeanbart of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church—one of the ancient Christian churches that calls Syria home—said that Christians generally supports Assad because they do not see another option. 

“It seems sometimes that all the countries of the world are against Assad, but we feel we don’t have any other alternative,” Jeanbart told the paper. “Honest to God, this is the situation. I think [Assad] wants to reform. Let him prove his good intentions, and let’s give him the chance to see what he will do.”

However, now that Assad is gone, Syria’s Christians will have to recon with a new reality. Despite the rhetoric from al-Jolani, it is unclear how Christians will be treated long-term in the new Syria.

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance warned, that when Syria was last destabilized, Christians suffered. 

“As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it,” Vance wrote on X. “Aside from that, opinions like the below make me nervous. The last time this guy was celebrating events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and a refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.” 

One U.S.-based nonprofit noted reports that Christians have faced widespread crime and vandalism in Aleppo, one of the first city’s seized by the rebel groups during their offensive this week. 

In Defense of Christians (IDC), which advocates for Middle Eastern Christians, said: “IDC’s contacts on the ground report that Christians have become the target of widespread crime and vandalism in Aleppo.  Basic necessities—including food and medical care—are scarce and inaccessible.” 

“Thousands of Christians have fled the ancient city and are internally displaced.  Christians who have remained in Aleppo live in significant fear, as violence against Christians may intensify rapidly.  IDC will continue to monitor the situation closely,” the groups said in a press release. 

Hadeel Oueis, a Syrian journalist based in Washington, D.C., told the Voice of America that Christians in the country are cautious, but that there are promising signs. 

“I have been speaking with members of my family in Aleppo, and there seems to be [a] degree of self-control not only toward Christians but also Alawites and other groups,” Oueis told the outlet. 

“Only time will tell if HTS is truly committed to changing and presenting a different image of itself to both Syrians and the international community,” she added.