Christians in Aleppo face uncertainty after fall of Assad

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00:00In front of the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, these Aleppo Christians are preparing for

00:05mass.

00:06Since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept through the city, the fate of minorities is on everybody's

00:12mind.

00:13The Bishop Hanna Jalouf knows them well.

00:16He used to work in Idlib, controlled by the Islamists since 2017.

00:20They promised us, and I think their promises are honest, that everything would be left

00:27untouched.

00:29They didn't come to disturb the community mix.

00:31They came to topple a corrupt regime.

00:34Now the regime has fallen.

00:45During the service, he went to great lengths to reassure his congregation, saying they

00:49had nothing to fear.

00:53Today, they have offered us their hand.

00:57We must accept it, and we are optimistic that by accepting it, we will rebuild our

01:01country.

01:05But as the churchgoers streamed out, doubts lingered in the minds of some.

01:12We're still scared, scared that there are extremists among them.

01:16Fear is still there.

01:18It's the first time I've been to mass since Aleppo was captured.

01:21We always stay at home because we are scared.

01:27For me, the first time I saw them was when I came here.

01:31They were standing here.

01:33I spoke to one of them.

01:34He told me everything was fine.

01:36He said, don't be afraid, you can go wherever you like.

01:40Up to 300,000 Christians lived in Aleppo before the start of the Syrian civil war.

01:45Now roughly 30,000 remain.

01:48Like other minorities, Kurds, Armenians, amongst others, they want to believe that Syria's

01:53new Islamist rulers will keep their word and won't discriminate against their faith.

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