Photo from here
In the first days of October 2026, a new wave of violence broke out against the Greek Orthodox Christians (Rum Orthodox; Romeoí) of Syria, centred on ancient Seleucia (Al-Suqaylabiyah), which was founded by the Greek king Seleucus I Nicator around 300 BC.
A Greek Orthodox Christian (Romeós) from the area, whose own life and the lives of his family are in danger every day, writes:
“Last night, in the Greek Orthodox town of Al-Suqaylabiyah in the Hama countryside, armed Muslim groups from the neighbouring village of Qalaat al-Madiq stormed Al-Suqaylabiyah. They smashed shops, roamed the streets, broke into homes, vandalised property, and opened fire randomly, injuring a woman in her hand. They were assisted by members of the Public Security. Some threats were received to shell the town, and when the men of Al-Suqaylabiyah tried to defend themselves, Public Security began arresting them. These recurring events in the town of Al-Suqaylabiyah are no longer just passing incidents, but rather a systematic plan to empty the town and displace its people.”
We recall that only last March (2026), a new attack had taken place against Romeoí, again centred on the same town. A personal appeal, accompanied by video footage, was published by a Romeós from Al-Suqaylabiyah, addressed to the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, asking him to take action for their protection.
In that appeal he wrote:
«Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis,
I write to you from the town of ancient Seleucia, known today as Suqaylabiyah.
Do not leave us alone in the face of these Turkish-backed armed groups. We, and the generations before us, have never abandoned our Antiochian Greek heritage. For this identity, we have paid dearly—thousands of lives over the years.
Today, in 2026, our streets are once again filled with the smell of blood—echoes of the suffering our grandparents endured. History is repeating itself before our eyes.
There was a time when the world did not see what was happening to us. But today, there is no excuse. You can see it with your own eyes.
We ask you: do not abandon us»
The Romeoí of Syria have lived there for two thousand years, since the earliest days of Christianity. For at least the past fifteen years, they have been tortured, murdered and uprooted from their homeland as a result of uncontrolled Islamist fanaticism.
In 2013, the Greek Orthodox Bishop Paul and the Syriac non-Chalcedonian Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim were abducted and, according to a video that later circulated, were tortured and killed. In the same year, more than 200 Romeoí—including many young children—were murdered by Islamist extremists.
From then until the present day, our brothers and sisters, the Romeoí of Syria, have continued to endure terror, violence and killings, culminating in the deadly bombing of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elijah in Damascus on 22 June 2025.
We also recall that, on 11 May 2026, Syria’s Foreign Minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, declared that in Syria “there are no minorities”. This statement caused understandable alarm, as it was interpreted as an indication of an intention on the part of Syria’s new jihadist regime to eliminate the country’s minorities.
On 31 March, Greek Member of the European Parliament Nikos Anadiotis, of the NIKI party, submitted a motion for a resolution of the European Parliament calling upon the European Union to act for the protection of Syria’s Greek Orthodox Christians from massacre (see “Greek MEP Aims to Break EU Silence Regarding Christian Persecution in Syria”).
The Democratic Patriotic Popular Movement NIKI urgently calls upon the European Parliament and all institutions of the European Union to demand from the Syrian regime a firm commitment to the protection of the Romeoí and of all Christian communities.
It is inconceivable that the European Union should proceed with agreements supporting Syria’s political regime without first having secured the safety of Christians, particularly while fanatical Islamists continue to attack them.
When Europe accepts, without protest, hundreds of thousands of Muslims of unknown origin and intentions, it is inconceivable that it should leave unprotected hundreds of thousands of civilians who have lived in those lands for centuries before the arrival of the Arabs and the emergence of Islam, and who have kept Greek and Orthodox Christian civilisation alive for thousands of years.
When they have all been slaughtered or uprooted from their ancestral homes, will we not be ashamed before History, which will record in letters of blood that we abandoned them?
Please see more here:
When the Romeoi (Rum) are persecuted, does Greece merely “follow the situation”?
New Massacre of Romeoi in Damascus
Will the European Parliament Help Persecuted Christians in Syria?
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