‘Îd al-Jalâ’

The seventeenth of April is Evacuation Day (‘Îd al-Jalâ’ عيد الجلاء) in Syria. The day celebrates the occasion in 1946 when the last French troops left Syrian soil. As one might suspect, the fact that Syrians celebrate their independence on this day rather than on, say, the first of January – when the Allied Powers during the Second World War recognised Syrian independence from France – shows precisely how tenuous that guarantee of independence was, and also showcases the very good reasons the Syrian people have to distrust the French even when they make such promises. Among the foreign leaders who commemorated Evacuation Day with the Syrian people this year were Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukašenko and Armenian President Armen Sarkissian.

This year nature too is joining the festivities, as flowers are blooming across the country and butterflies and birds are returning. The Syrian people, too, this year have a few reasons to rejoice, though particularly on an œconomic front their struggle is far from over. The war is winding down; Syrian refugees and displaced people are returning home; Dâ‘iš has been decisively weakened (but not yet quite defeated); and most of the country is firmly under the control of the rightful government of Baššâr al-’Asad. Peace talks are being held in Qazaqstan.

However, not all is yet well in Syria. There are still foreign jihadis and Kurdish forces still operating in the country. There is a shortage of resources, particularly fuel, which is the direct result of a brutal sanctions régime from the Western countries and which are directly impacting the poorest and most deprived sectors of the society. And the rightfully-Syrian Arab Hadbatu al-Jawlân is still under foreign occupation – a sad fact which is also commemorated on each Evacuation Day. That occupation sadly has now been validated, over the heads of all the Arab peoples, by our own criminal government.

Additionally, and importantly, our beloved Aleppine archpastors of the Christian confessions, Sayyidna Paul Yâzijî and Mâr Yôhanna Ibrâhîm, are still missing – and this week, six years will have passed since they were abducted. May this Evacuation Day also see renewed and intensified prayers on their behalf, for their release from captivity and for their safe return. May God keep and protect them, and keep them ever in His own memory.

May God grant victories to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries. May He save and have mercy upon Baššar al-‘Asad and upon the righteous and Christ-loving Syrian Arab Army; may He surround Syria’s sovereignty with peace and subdue beneath their feet every enemy and adversary. May He grant it that the whole of the Syrian nation be liberated from foreign occupation and oppression!