The members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee have sent a pastoral message to the churches in Syria extending solidarity as they face enormous challenges due to the ongoing violence in the country.

At least eight evangelical churches in northern Syria have been closed by the Syrian government.

According to International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org , the Syrian government ordered the closure of numerous 'house churches' for meeting in places the government deems inappropriate for worship.

Many congregations in Syria cannot afford to buy a plot of land and build a church, so instead they purchase an apartment and turn it into a place of worship. However, during the past few months, the government has enforced a law stating that congregations must only gather in buildings that resemble a church.

By Michael Ireland, www.persecution.org Sep 28, 2010

It's great to note that a United Kingdom (UK) Immigration court has, for the very first time, granted asylum to a Syrian Christian couple who are persecuted for their conversion from Islam to Christianity.

In a report by Open Doors UK, it noted that this is unprecedented for a UK court and, as such, is a recognition of threats to Christian converts who suffer for accepting Christian faith in Syria.

It described the ruling which was facilitated by the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) as a victory, "The court recognized that the couple would face real physical threats, including death, if they returned to Syria, the husband's country of origin. Their appeal was granted on both asylum and human rights grounds."

By Success Kanayo Uchime, ANS, Oct 5, 2008

Mel Gibson's controversial film drawing sizeable audience in Syrian and Lebanese capitals.

Certain sequences of the movie are in Aramaic, the language that was dominant in the Holy Land at the time of Christ and which can still be heard in certain towns in Syria, notably Maalula and Saadnaya near Damascus.

"Some members of the audience could not conceal their astonishment on hearing some expressions - such as Ya Illah (My God) - that are close to Arabic"

By Henri Mamarbachi - Middle East Online, March 26, 2004

Well over 35,000 Bibles and Christian books were sold during the Baghdad and Damascus book fairs.

Compas Direct, December 20, 2001

Patriarch Maximus Hakim V, leader of the Greek Catholic church for more than 30 years, died Friday. He was 93.

AP, June 29, 2001

Many people outside the region consider the Arab Middle East exclusively Muslim. Middle East expert Claude Lorieux dispels that notion in his new book called, "Christians in the Land of Islam."

VOW News, Laurie Kassman, Paris,31 May 2001

Leader of the Greek Catholic Church confined to remark on the refusal of the Maronite patriarch Nasrullah Butrous Sfeir to visit Syria to welcome the Pope.

Syria, Religion, 5/15/2001

State Department spokesman says that Assad's statement including that Jews betrayed Jesus,were regrettable .

The Associated Press ,9th May,2001

The so-called "Holy Land" is ever less Christian as the region's dwindling number of followers of Jesus Christ stage a mass exodus to the West.

Independent, By Robert Fisk in Beirut, 06 May 2001