Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need has pledged $2.8 million worth of aid for Christian communities in Syria.
The aid package will go to Christian communities in villages and cities that were significantly affected by the war with the Islamic State, including major cities Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus.
According to an article in the Catholic Herald, the pledged amount will help pay for the basic needs of 4,500 Christian families in the beneficiary communities for four months, as well as ensure medical supplies for six months in Aleppo and Hassake, and for the repair of schools and churches.
Christian communities in Syria have been hit hard by the fighting in the Syrian civil war as well as the actions of the militant Islamic State. Tens of thousands of Christians have fled their homes to escape the violence of the Islamic State and have crossed the Syrian borders to Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.
"Countless families are without a reliable source of income," Aid to the Church in Need's Middle East Director Father Andrzej Halemba told the Catholic Herald.
"Children and youth are barred from continuing their education (and) half of all the country's schools are damaged, destroyed or used as shelter for fighters," Fr. Halemba added.
Although there are various organisations engaged in relief efforts in the war-torn Middle Eastern country, the charity revealed that Christians have benefited "only to a limited extent" because of the fear of persecution.
"Christians are reluctant to register themselves with aid agencies (and) formally identify themselves as Christians for fear of extremist Muslim reprisals who persecute Christians for their faith and their perceived support of the Syrian regime," the charity said.
While the rest of Syria was protesting and calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down and resign during the Arab Spring in 2011, Syrian Christians had opposed the protesters' demands and supported the embattled president instead.
The support for al-Assad was borne out of fear of suffering the same as Iraqi Christians did when the Hussein regime fell and the country encountered a vacuum in governance, safety and security.
