Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, known today as President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria, sits for a podcast interview. February 4, 2025. x. Guest commentary by Sami Alkayial ENGLISH – scroll down for Arabic Many segments of Syrian society, especially ethnic and religious minorities, as well as democratic and secular activists, were shocked by the European response to… Read more »
Image background: CSI visited Aleppo in 2017, under the brutal Assad regime that preceded the HTS takeover of Syria in December 2024. csi The Christian Solidarity Podcast: Violence grows against religious minorities in Syria In the second episode of the Christian Solidarity Podcast, host Abi McDougal and Dr. Joel Veldkamp, CSI’s director for public… Read more »
Erich Vontobel called on the U.S. to support the Swiss Peace Initiative. csi The plight of religious minorities in the “new Syria” is a continuing concern following massacres of Alawites and then Druze under the interim government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. On July 1, CSI held a side event devoted to the topic at… Read more »
Father Alphonsus Afina, safe at home after spending 51 days in Boko Haram captivity. Photo provided. On June 1, one of CSI’s project partners in Nigeria, Father Daniel Aphonsus Afina, was abducted by Boko Haram terrorists. 51 days later, on July 21, he was released, and returned to his diocese in Maiduguri, where he was… Read more »
CSI is providing emergency aid to survivors. ECCVN On the night of July 15, while villagers were asleep, a group of more than 30 suspected Fulani militants invaded Bindi (Jebbu) Ta-hoss, a predominantly Christian community in Riyom local government area of Plateau State. The militants are said to have gone from house to house,… Read more »
For generations, Alawite communities have lived peacefully along Syria’s Mediterranean coast. csi This article is based on interviews conducted by CSI during a visit to Syria in late June 2025. During a visit to Syria in late June, CSI spoke with Salma, a schoolteacher from Tartous who works with one of CSI’s after-school projects… Read more »
S. Bibi lives with her husband, who is fighting cancer, and their children in Pakistan. csi S. Bibi, a 38-year-old Christian woman from a small town in Pakistan’s Punjab province, is fighting a legal battle with the support of CSI after being deceived into legally converting to Islam and forcibly married by a Muslim man… Read more »
Father Alphonsus, 41, seen here greeting a beneficiary during an aid distribution in December, has been released 51 days after his captured by the jihadist group Boko Haram. csi Media Release Christian Solidarity International (CSI) welcomes the news that Father Daniel Alphonsus Afina, one of its project partners in Nigeria, has been released from captivity… Read more »
Erich Vontobel (center) stands in front of the U.S. Capitol with the delegation for the Swiss Peace Initiative. csi Interview with Swiss National Councillor Erich Vontobel Mr. Vontobel, how did you become involved with Nagorno Karabakh? At the end of January 2024, I was assigned two motions in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National… Read more »
Syrian security forces in Mazara’a in Suwayda province – July 14, 2025. @sayed_ridha, x. Syrian government forces have once again launched an attack on religious minority populations – this time against the Druze, a religious group which makes up about 3% of Syria’s population, and who are considered heretics by jihadist groups. Between July 14… Read more »
