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Christians

Until the beginning of the Battle of Aleppo in 2012, the city contained one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East. There were many Oriental Orthodox Christian congregations, mainly Armenians and Assyrians (locally known as Syriacs). Historically, the city was the main centre of French Catholic missionaries in Syria.

The Christian population of Aleppo was slightly more than 250,000 before the Syrian Civil War, representing about 12% of the total population of the city. However, as a consequence of the war, the Christian population of the city decreased to less than 100,000 as of the beginning of 2017, of whom around 30% were ethnic Armenians.

A significant number of the Assyrians in Aleppo speak Aramaic, hailing from the city of Urfa in Turkey. The large community of Oriental Orthodox Christians belongs to the Armenian Apostolic and Syriac Orthodox churches. However, there is a significant presence of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Antioch as well.

There is also a large number Eastern Catholic Christians in the city, including Melkite Greeks, Maronites, Chaldeans, Syrian Catholics and the followers of the Latin Church. Evangelical Christians of different denominations are a minority in the city.

Several districts of the city have a Christian and Armenian majority, such as the old Christian quarter of al-Jdayde. Around 50 churches are operated in the city by the above-mentioned congregations. However, according to the Deputy Chairman of the commission for UNESCO of the Russian Federation, Alexander Dzasokhov, around 20 churches suffered great destruction during the battles in Aleppo, with the most notable being the National Evangelical Church, as well as the surrounding historic churches of al-Jdayde district. On 25 December 2016, following the government victory, Christmas was publicly celebrated in Aleppo for the first time in four years.