What is happening in Syria? Who makes up the opposition?
Over the past two years, however, the FSA has been pushed back and strong Sunni Islamist groups such as al-Nusra Front and ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) have taken the helm within the opposition. They are undeterred, well armed and financially supported from the outside - plus over 11,000 jihadists (holy warriors) traveling to Syria from halfway around the world.
What are the Islamists' goals?
They want to create a caliphate between Iraq and Syria, a Sharia state. The Syrian civil war is part of a global religious struggle. For the Islamists, there is nothing to negotiate; they have a chance to achieve their goals now. At ISIS checkpoints, you can barely get through alive unless you can prove you are Sunni Muslim.
That is, you are killed on the spot?
Yes, immediately - or locked up and held hostage for a lucrative ransom.
How do you know this?
I have eyewitness accounts. While other Islamists offer the opportunity to convert to Islam, which they do in a few sentences and with their index finger pointing to the sky, ISIS acts in such a way that they cut off the index finger of dissenting believers. According to Sharia law, they can no longer profess Allah and Islam.
Can you find evidence for such an attitude in the Quran?
Not with Euro-Islam, which is widespread in Europe. However, evidence for it can be found in the Quran in the later suras from Medina. According to Islamic teachings, the later surahs abrogate the earlier ones that originated in Mecca. ISIS and Nusra insurgents openly talk about the creation of a caliphate and take up arms for it.
I have a fatwa from August 16, 2013 from an Islamist occupied neighborhood in Aleppo. It says that if a man is stopped at a checkpoint without a beard, he is punished with 50 lashes. If he is caught without a beard for a second time, it means death, because Islam prescribes that a man must have a beard.
There are reports of people dying of starvation
Yes, millions of people have too little food. It's estimated that the number of people relying on outside help is ten million - that's half the population! When you think about it, you realize the scale of this humanitarian disaster. Hunger is driving women into prostitution and children into war. The UN admits it is unable to help everyone. Most of the aid to Syria goes to the refugee camps in Jordan. The Danish European Mission is one of the few organizations bringing aid into the country.
How is this possible when not even the UN has access to everyone in the region?
The UN talks about many "inaccessible areas" in Syria. That's exactly where we work, in the opposition areas. We work together with people on the ground who know the local situation intimately - congregations and churches. It is Christians who distribute the relief supplies to all those in need, regardless of their religious and ethnic affiliation. Our partners distribute aid packages to thousands of people in need.
How are Syrian Christians faring?
Churches in Syria are full like never before. People used to live under a lid of fear; the secret police controlled everything. Christians were not directly persecuted, but were paralyzed. The word paralyzed should be understood in the sense that before the civil war, churches were well attended and Christians were politically active in Syrian society. However, the Syrian Christians paid a price for this freedom - they were not allowed to share the gospel with Muslims, so they converted from Islam to the Christian faith. This paralysis has been blown away.
There is evidence that Muslims, amidst the horrors of civil war, want to be baptized. It even goes so far that church leaders have to draw inspiration from each other to develop youth work. We see the same among the Kurds.
How dangerous is it to distribute the aid?
Large organizations fill warehouses with goods. That's where they need to be picked up. We bring the goods directly to the individual people in need, which means we are responsible for the transportation. This is only possible because our partners on the ground perform this service from the heart. They have often told me that the aid we provide makes them decide to stay in the country. They live with a mission and bear witness to God's love. They are light in the darkness.
I am in contact with a young man who has turned down a scholarship from the US, saying, "Here I experience God like never before. How can I leave the country now?"
Through our projects, we encourage local Christians to make an active contribution to the positive development and future of the country. Only then will they be able to survive in the Middle East. Christians in Europe should stand in solidarity with our Syrian brothers and sisters in this difficult time.
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