📰 French Judiciary Targets ‘SOS Chrétiens d’Orient’ as Syrian Diaspora Fails to Show Solidarity

Since 2020, French judicial authorities have persistently investigated the activities of the organisation “Save the Christians of the Orient” (SOS Chrétiens d’Orient), suspecting its complicity in crimes against humanity, deliberate attacks on civilians and actions amounting to war crimes. Most recently, in late September, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office declared raids on the organisation’s offices in Paris and surrounding areas. During the operations, its leader, Charles de Meyer—known for his alignment with the hardline monarchist right—was interrogated, and electronic devices and documents relevant to the case were confiscated. Yet behind this formal investigation lies a parallel, equally compelling story: the personal and legal struggle of two syrians who helped expose the organisation’s activities, but who did so without any meaningful backing from their fellow Syrians in exile.

Dr Ilias Warda, originally from Sqaylabiyah, and Firas Quntar, from Suwayda, contributed to the 2020 investigative report published by the French outlet Mediapart and the US-based emerging Lines Magazine. Their revelations laid the groundwork for the French Public Prosecutor’s preliminary inquiry into the organisation’s compliance with French association laws—a process that disclosed its underlying purpose: amplifying the syrian/" class="auto-internal-link">syrian regime’s narrative within France by portraying all opposition as Islamist and foregrounding the plight of Christians. Following the publication, a group of activists—including Dr Warda, Mr Quntar, an independent French journalist, a French advocate for the Syrian cause and a Belgian academic—used their personal accounts on platform X to disseminate posts exposing the organisation’s activities. The investigation linked SOS Chrétiens d’Orient to regime-affiliated militias in areas such as Mhardeh and Sqaylabiyah—groups accused of war crimes including indiscriminate shelling, looting and the recruitment of child soldiers.

Photographic evidence also surfaced showing the organisation’s leaders bearing arms, praising militia commanders and distributing aid to the families of fighters in the National Defence troops. Such actions violate relief norms and French law, which prohibits religious discrimination and bans backing to combatants—particularly where donors benefit from tax exemptions. In retaliation, the organisation filed two legal complaints—one against Dr Warda and one against Mr Quntar—on grounds of defamation. Dr Warda has stated that he “won a legal victory in his case, although the legal struggle continues.

Notably, ” He stated he had “assisted prosecutors by providing testimony, translating numerous incriminating documents and presenting the names of witnesses whose statements now reinforce the case file—all at significant personal and financial cost. In fact, ” Mr Quntar also gave evidence to the French Public Prosecutor but…