By Jeremiah Love —
A beloved Christian mayor in Syria been arrested and held in jail for 18 months without charges by the new national government.
Suleiman Khalil, a Syriac Orthodox Christian, organized the defense of his town, Sadad, in Homs Governorate, against the attack of jihadists.
In November 2015, Khalil organize the town’s defense and repelled an attack from ISIS, preventing a potential massacre of the Christian population like the one during an earlier jihadist attack. In October 2013, forces led by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra occupied the town for about a week, killing 41 Christian civilians.
Locals regarded him as a hero.
Supporters of Khalil say that lower level leaders in the new regime probably were part of the attacking force of 2015 and arrested him out of revenge.
The new Syrian regime is being led since Jan. 29, 2025 by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who formerly was part of Al Qaeda. Al-Sharaa has pledged to give equality to all Syrians (including Christians, Druze, Alawites, Shia and Kurds) to mixed reviews.
Probably he doesn’t exercise full control over all his men, and the arrest of Khalil was likely from a low level subordinate that al-Sharaa can’t control.
Khalil was arrested on Feb. 8, 2025, just two months after the collapse of the Assad government. Armed security officers from Syria’s new transitional government came to Khalil’s home in Sadad with an arrest warrant.
They searched both Khalil and his house for weapons but reportedly found none. SyriacPress reported that security personnel even dug inside the house looking for concealed weapons. He was initially taken into military-security custody in Homs and subsequently held in facilities including Homs Central Prison.
It is reported he has not been charged with any crime, or granted access to a lawyer. Christian Solidarity International, a lawyers group, raised his detention before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva in March.
Khalil, born Jan. 1, 1974, is an engineer and businessman. He is married to Eva Khalil, and they have two daughters, Natalie and Stephanie. He was elected mayor of Sadad in 2012.
Sadad is an ancient, predominantly Syriac Orthodox Christian town southeast of Homs. Khalil reportedly was not a member of the former regime, Bashar Assad’s ruling Ba’ath Party. In fact, CSI says Assad’s government became wary of Khalil’s growing popularity and engineered his removal as mayor in 2016.
On June 25, 2026, a coalition of religious-freedom organizations appealed to U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack to intervene with the Syrian government. International Christian Concern reported on that appeal July 2.
There are also allegations that his health has deteriorated and that he may have been tortured. His family reportedly has also been prevented from supplying him with a Bible and cross.
