World must aid Syria at this 'new chapter in its rich history,' says Bishop Zaidan

(OSV News) -- The head of the U.S. Catholic bishops' international justice committee is calling on nations to help Syria after the Dec. 8 fall of the Assad dictatorship in a lightning rebel offensive after 13 years of civil war.

"In yet another dramatic development in the Middle East, after enduring more than a decade of bloody civil war, Syria is undergoing a national political transition that will surely impact the entire region," said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace.

In a Dec. 10 statement, Bishop Zaidan said that the U.S. and the global community should support Syria as it "starts a new chapter in its rich history."

He noted that Cardinal Mario Zenari, papal ambassador to Syria, had "expressed his profound relief that the transition was relatively peaceful, while also noting the arduous task ahead for the Syrian people."

Cardinal Mario Zenari spoke with Vatican News hours after rebels entered Syria's capital, Damascus, which Assad was reported to have fled sometime on Dec. 8, after being absent from the public eye during most of the rebels' two-week campaign. Assad and his family are now in Moscow and have been granted asylum there, according to state media in Russia, a key backer of the Assad regime.

Cardinal Zenari told Vatican News he had been unable to sleep amid the "constant gunfire" in Damascus, but noted the "shooting in the streets" was "celebratory" amid a stunning transition of power that happened without a bloody contest for the capital.

In his statement, Bishop Zaidan quoted the cardinal, who told Vatican News, "Thank God, this transition happened without bloodshed, without the carnage that was feared. Now the path ahead is steep—those who have taken power have promised to respect everyone and to build a new Syria. We hope they will keep these promises, but of course, the road ahead remains very difficult."

"I echo Cardinal Zenari's sentiments on the transition and the aspirations of the Syrian people are clear: the people of Syria want a government in Damascus that will respect and defend human rights, especially the religious freedom of minorities, uphold the rule of law, and promote economic and civil society development throughout the country," said Bishop Zaidan. "As Syria starts a new chapter in its rich history, I urge the United States and the international community to keep the people of Syria in prayer and to closely monitor the situation so that all aid organizations are able to reach those most in need."

The rebel offensive ended the five-decade rule of the Assad family, which has been marked by violent repression and brutal crackdowns on dissent. During his three decades in power, Assad's father Hafez established a Soviet-style economy and quashed opposition. Initial hopes that Bashar Assad -- who assumed power in 2000 after his father's death -- would prove more moderate were extinguished when Assad turned to longtime family allies to exert an increasingly authoritarian rule.

When pro-democratic protests sparked civil war in 2011, Assad responded with brutal force that ultimately saw more than 500,000 killed and countless atrocities marked by detention, torture and executions, prompting the United Nations to convene an independent international commission of inquiry on Syria.

As of 2024, 16.7 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid. More than half of Syria's 23 million pre-war population is displaced, with 5.2 million refugees and 6.8 million internally displaced persons, according to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency.

As rebel forces have liberated the Assad regime's notorious detention centers, evidence of systematic torture has also increasingly come to light, with some 40 bodies at one hospital morgue reported to have shown signs of what one rebel fighter described to Agence France Presse as "gruesome torture."

Assad's fall has not concluded the state of conflict in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Dec. 10 that Israel has launched more than 300 air strikes on Syrian territory since Assad fled, and Israeli ground forces have moved into southern Syria.