Syria’s IDPs Live Amidst Ancient Christian Sites

Publication Date: 30/12/2021

Source: Persecution - International Christian Concern

The historic Christian ruins of Sarjableh and Babisqa are now home to some of Syria’s internally displaced persons. There are some 2.8 million displaced people in northwest Syria, with only 1.7 million of them in sites for IDPs. Families who struggle to locate places to live utilize historic Christian sites, once attractions to locals and tourists, to set up their tents.

Babisqa and Sarjableh are among those listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria. The current inhabitants fled for their lives amidst the country’s civil war and aerial bombardment. One displaced man commented, “We did not leave our land by our own free will to come to an area that has been uninhabited for thousands of years.” There are some 80 families living at the ancient site of Babisqa, now known as “Kharrab Camp” or “Ruins Camp”.

Families who once held their own land and livestock, now are without healthcare, jobs and quality housing. Ancient stones are used to construct makeshift gates for the remaining livestock, while laundry lines string from tents to the crumbling architecture. The people of Syria, and particularly its Christian minority population, struggle for survival. As the situation fails to improve in the country, the remaining Christian history faces eradication and damage.

Link: https://www.persecution.org/2021/12/30/syrias-idps-live-amidst-ancient-christian-sites/