Christian World | After visiting Syria, the head of Austrian charity ICO said the Christian minority feels insecure and warned of creeping Islamization and economic hardship

ACW | November 3, 2026 — Syria's Christian minority feels deeply insecure and sees no future, Slawomir Dadas, chairman of the Austrian charity Initiative Christlicher Orient (ICO), told Kathpress after a delegation visit to Syria.

"The security situation has recently improved somewhat; there are no direct attacks on Christians," Dadas told the Austrian Catholic news agency in a report published on Monday, November 2. He warned of a creeping Islamization of Syria and said Christians would see a future there only if the country does not move toward an Islamic state.

Church representatives have called for equal rights and duties for all regardless of religion or ethnicity, but the signs point the other way, Dadas said, according to Kathpress. He said Alawites fear for their future even more than Christians and that targeted violence against them continues.

In Aleppo few women are seen without head coverings, and in Hama the new authorities have banned music and shisha in restaurants as "un-Islamic," the agency reported. School textbooks have also been changed, with images of women without headscarves removed.

Maronite Archbishop Joseph Tobji of Aleppo, who also heads Caritas in Syria, told the delegation that electricity prices have risen 600-fold and bread costs 12 times more, Kathpress said. "The situation is dramatic," Dadas said. "Everyone is called upon: the international community and the churches." No response from Syria's current authorities appeared in published reports.

Background: The delegation visited ICO-backed projects in Latakia, Tartus, Damascus and Aleppo, including vocational training for about 85 young women in Latakia, and met the Syriac Catholic and Syriac Orthodox archbishops of Damascus, according to Kathpress. ACW has also reported on Middle East Christians after the Karak church attack in Jordan; read ACW's report.

Why it matters: Syrian church leaders are calling for equal rights for all citizens regardless of religion or ethnicity, and Dadas urged Western countries to do more for freedom of religion or belief and human rights in Syria, Kathpress reported.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Kathpress (Austrian Catholic news agency) — ICO: Christians in Syria urgently need more help

Photo: Initiative Christlicher Orient (ICO) via Kathpress