Though Some Displaced Christians Return to Arbin, Others Remain in Damascus

Hala, a Christian, lived with her family in the East Ghouta city of Arbin before 2011. She owned an apartment in a licensed multi-storey building in a zoned area. Although most of her family were involved in the carpentry and home furniture trade Arbin was known for, she found a job she said was “more stable” as an employee in a public sector institution.

Hala, like other Christian women in Arbin, was mindful of the conservative social norms in the predominantly Sunni area, especially regarding dress codes and movement times. The number of Christians in Arbin was around 2,000 before 2011, most of them Greek Orthodox, deeply rooted in the city, living in neighbourhoods like Mary’s and Al-Waaz, Sagha Street, and the Harasta-Arbin road area, freely practising their religious rituals in St. George’s Church, founded in 1873. Christians were known for goldsmithing and trading, and they established significant businesses like the “Rajiha Wood Trading Company” and car parts selling companies, among others.

With the start of the uprising in 2011, most Christians of Arbin took a rather neutral stance, leaning towards loyalty to the regime. However, following the appointment of Dawoud Rajiha, a Christian from Arbin, as Minister of Defence in August 2011, some Christians received threats from the city’s armed individuals to leave if they did not show opposition to the regime. By the end of 2011, some Christian families, including Hala’s, started to leave Arbin, fearing the worsening situation.

In July 2012, Minister Rajiha was killed in the National Security building explosion in Damascus and armed opposition factions took control of the largest regime checkpoints in the city of Arbin. Then, the regime forces besieged the city, bombarding it with mortar shells, rocket launchers and helicopter raids. The regime forces allowed the remaining Christians in the city to leave.

State media has highlighted the issue of Arbin’s Christians more than once, attempting to turn their displacement into a public opinion issue that fits into the regime’s narrative about a minority alliance.

Hala says that the Christians from Arbin who were displaced to Damascus received state attention and assistance on several occasions. Her family was able to re-establish their business after obtaining a loan from an official bank. They managed to rent a home in the Christian-majority district of Qassaa in Damascus, and due to their good financial situation, they did not need aid. Meanwhile, many Christian refugees from Arbin in Damascus received in-kind assistance and food aid from the Red Crescent. However, the rate of this assistance has significantly decreased over the last few years.

With the end of the fighting in Eastern Ghouta in 2018 and the regime forces regaining control after the forced displacement of the opposition, some Christian families began returning to Arbin. The first to return to the city were the poorest Christians, who were burdened by rental payments in Damascus and other facets of living in displacement, Hala explained. However, there soon emerged a clear trend among Christian businessmen to support the Christian refugees’ return to the city, organising campaigns to clear rubble and debris from the streets.

In January 2023, St. George’s Church and its associated school were officially reopened after being restored by Russia. Russia continues to provide food aid to all Arbin’s residents, Muslims and Christians alike, according to Hala. Russia also provided financial assistance for the partial restoration of damaged houses. Those wishing to receive aid had to submit a restoration request to the Arbin municipality, which sent engineering committees to assess the damage. It seems that those compensated were homeowners whose properties were less than 10 percent damaged. Houses with damage exceeding this percentage did not receive any compensation, which was the case for Hala, whose apartment was significantly more damaged.

Hala says that even if her home in Arbin were to be rehabilitated and restored, she would sell it. Given the extensive destruction in the city, the lack of restoration of essential services, and the disrupted transport links with the capital, she prefers living in Damascus, where she has found better living conditions and a wider social circle.