A woman reacts as people gather for a mass demonstration in Syria’s northeastern city of Qamishli on March 11, 2025 protesting against a recent wave of sectarian violence targeting Syria’s Alawite minority in the west of the country along the Mediterranean sea coast.

The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East, John X, said during a sermon on March 9th:

The bloody events taking place on the Syrian coast left many dead and wounded. … In many cities, towns, and villages, their houses were burnt, and their properties have been stolen. The targeted areas were the places of Alawites and Christians. Many innocent Christian victims were also killed. Residents of some of those places were forced to leave their homes. Then they were shot and killed. Then their houses, property, and cars were stolen. 

On the invitation of Patriarch John X, Greek MEP Nikolas Farantouris, who is a member of the Security and Defense Committee, the Constitutional Affairs Committee, and the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament, paid a two-day visit to Syria’s capital, Damascus, on March 8-9. 

 In a statement Farantouris made following his visit, he said:

Reliable data indicate 7,000 massacres of Christians and Alawites and unprecedented atrocities against civilians. Christian and other communities with a presence in these parts for over a thousand years are at risk of extinction. The new Islamic regime is leading Syria into an Islamic state and is claiming that it cannot control the paramilitaries and their affiliated gangs who attack innocent civilians. 

I call on the Greek Government and the entire political world of the country, the European Institutions and the governments of the Member States, to act NOW. Neither Greece nor the EU can continue to show tolerance and limit themselves to ceremonial visits and courtesies with the Islamic regime for investments and ‘business’ while thousands of civilians are being massacred under its tolerance if not its guidance. 

In an interview with Greek Kontra TV, Farantouris said, “The situation [in Syria] has spiraled out of control. The West is watching the atrocities of the new Syrian regime as if nothing is happening. Actions are needed here and now. The slaughter of hundreds of civilians continues.”