Report: Christian communities face attacks in Nigeria, Syria, Lebanon, and West Bank ahead of Triduum

Violence and sectarian pressure targeting Christian communities across Africa and the Middle East have continued in the days leading up to the Easter Triduum, with deadly attacks in Nigeria on Palm Sunday, a sectarian rampage in Syria, ongoing settler incursions in the West Bank, and continued displacement of Christians in southern Lebanon.

Nigeria

At least 30 people were killed in Ungwan Rukuba, a community in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state, Nigeria, during a Palm Sunday attack, according to International Christian Concern (ICC). 

Armed men entered the community and opened fire on residents. Alex Barbir, an American missionary and founder of Building Zion — an organization that works with persecuted Christian communities in Nigeria — posted a video on X from the scene. 

"In Rukuba, they just murdered over 10 people, innocent Christians, on Palm Sunday," Barbir said, addressing Nigerian President Bola Tinubu directly: "Tinubu, where are you as your people are slaughtered in the night? ...You are doing absolutely nothing."

Sean Nelson of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International wrote on X,  "Another devastating Palm Sunday in Nigeria. Moving the terror from the countryside to the city. The message they are sending: It's not safe to be a Christian anywhere in Northern Nigeria."

According to the ICC report, “Residents gave differing accounts of the attackers. One witness described them as members of Boko Haram, while another alleged they were armed Fulani militia….”

A separate attack the same day in Kahir village, Kagarko LGA of Kaduna State, killed at least 13, mostly young men between the ages of 21 and 31 who had gathered for a bachelor's party, according to the ICC. 

ICC has documented similar Easter-period attacks in Plateau state annually from 2020 through 2025, including one near Jos in 2025 that killed 54.

Syria

A dispute between a resident of the Christian-majority city of Suqaylabiyah and a man from the neighboring Sunni Muslim town of Qalaat al-Madiq became the trigger for a wider sectarian attack on the night of March 27. 

Scores of men from Qalaat al-Madiq arrived on motorcycles and damaged homes, shops, and vehicles belonging to Christian residents of Suqaylabiyah, according to AP News. 

No casualties were immediately reported. According to the report, since the fall of Assad in December 2024, members of the country’s Alawite, Druze, and Christian minorities have been subjected to attacks by gunmen loyal to the country’s new Islamist rulers. 

Syrian government forces deployed reinforcements and arrested six people. Residents declared a general strike and staged a public march. Syrian churches announced they were curtailing Easter celebrations in response, according to the Abu Dhabi-based English news outlet The National.

West Bank

As Zeale News previously reported, Israeli settlers entered and took control of a cement factory and quarry on the outskirts of Taybeh March 19–20, raised an Israeli flag on a storage tank, and conducted religious rituals on the property. Taybeh is the last predominantly Christian Palestinian town in the West Bank.

>> Christians in Holy Land face threats to homes and worship access ahead of Holy Week << 

Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of the Latin Church in Taybeh, said police arrived an hour after being called and left shortly after. 

"Now they are inside the land," he told Vatican Radio. "We ask the world to come and see, to stop these actions, and to allow us to live in safety and peace."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated March 27 that the Trump administration is “concerned” about the settler attacks and has brought the issue to the Israeli government. Israeli President Isaac Herzog published a statement March 30 denouncing “extremist” violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Lebanon

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi met with Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher this month to ask the Holy See to "intervene and mediate to help preserve the Christian presence" in southern border villages, according to Vatican News.

The request came amid ongoing bombardments and evacuations that have displaced Christian communities near the Israeli border. As Zeale News previously reported, Fr. Pierre El-Rahi, a Maronite Catholic priest, was killed in Qlayaa while assisting parishioners after a tank strike hit their home. Archbishop Gallagher said the Holy See is "making all the necessary diplomatic contacts to halt the escalation in Lebanon and to prevent the displacement of citizens."

Pope Leo XIV, who visited Lebanon in December 2025, has spoken out repeatedly on behalf of those who are suffering as a result of the conflict there. Lebanon’s population has the highest percentage of Christians of any Middle Eastern nation, and more than one million Lebanese have been displaced since the beginning of March.