Mingri “Ezra” Jin, head pastor of Zion Church, is seen on September 12, 2018, in Beijing, days after authorities shut down one of China’s largest “underground” Protestant churches. (Getty Images)
Syrians living in Turkey celebrate with opposition flags after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, in Istanbul, Turkey. (Burak Kara via Getty Images)
A crucifix is pictured outside the Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Aleppo, Syria, on December 12, 2024. (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, is welcomed by supporters at the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, on December 8, 2024. (Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP via Getty Images)
A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service raises the victory gesture as others hold upside-down the black flag of the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq, on June 30, 2017. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)