How did a terrorist in a tailored suit get Trump’s stamp of approval?



While the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage has dominated headlines, another danger has quietly re-emerged — one far more dangerous to American lives than a frozen conflict in Eastern Europe. Donald Trump has legitimized a man who once led an al-Qaeda/ISIS faction, lifting U.S. terrorist designations and sanctions to recognize him as Syria’s leader.

For millions of Trump voters, ending America’s involvement in endless wars and repudiating the neocons who started them was a central promise. Trump’s campaign video “Preventing World War III” called out warmongers and globalist elites like no other candidate before him. He vowed to replace them with patriots and pursue an expressly America First foreign policy.

Trump’s instincts on war and peace can be right — if he listens to MAGA voices.

But instead of draining the neocon swamp, Trump has given it fresh water. His recognition of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani — the protégé of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — has kept us on the endless war track.

This isn’t what MAGA voted for.

How we got here

In December, Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria collapsed after 14 years of civil war. Into the vacuum stepped al-Jolani and his terrorist army, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — the latest iteration of al-Qaeda and ISIS. This is the same Islamist movement that murdered 3,000 Americans on 9/11, beheaded Americans, and committed atrocities across the globe.

Yet the United States — first under Joe Biden and now Trump — recognized HTS as a legitimate government. Trump went farther, praising al-Jolani as “a young, attractive guy” with “a strong past” and removing HTS from the U.S. government’s list of designated terrorist groups.

The ISIS record

Trump still celebrates the 2019 mission that killed ISIS founder al-Baghdadi. But Baghdadi's deputy, al-Jolani, was an equally ruthless figure — a homicidal psychopath once targeted by the State Department with a $10 million bounty and a spot on its most-wanted list.

ISIS, originally known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, became notorious for public beheadings, bombings, rape, sexual slavery, torture, and genocide — including the murder of Americans.

In 2011, al-Baghdadi sent al-Jolani to Syria to establish an ISIS foothold. Al-Jolani formed the Al-Nusra Front, Syria’s largest jihadist militia, which later evolved into HTS.

Interventionist fingerprints

ISIS didn’t appear from nowhere. U.S. foreign policy paved the way, under the influence of neoconservatives who believe that the purpose of American military might is to bend the world to their political will, regardless of who is in the White House. They’ve engineered endless wars in service of the military-industrial-congressional complex and globalist elites.

Just a month after 9/11, General Wesley Clark learned of a neocon plan within the Pentagon to topple seven Middle Eastern governments in five years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.

Six are down. Only Iran remains.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was predicated on nonexistent “weapons of mass destruction.” The result? 4,492 dead Americans, at least 655,000 dead Iraqis, trillions of tax dollars squandered, the ascent of ISIS, and a far more dangerous Iran.

Barack Obama’s decision in 2011 to oust Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was another interventionist catastrophe. Spearheaded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Democrat by party, neoconservative interventionist by worldview), Libya was left a barbaric, failed state.

RELATED: The terrorists run Syria now — and Christians, religious minorities are paying the price

Photo by OMAR ALBAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

After Gaddafi was sodomized to death by a mob of savages, Clinton perversely gloated: “We came, we saw — he died.” Now Libya is a human trafficking hub with open-air slave markets.

Then came Syria. Obama secretly authorized the CIA’s Operation Timber Sycamore to arm “moderate” rebels. Billions’ worth of weapons ended up on the black market or with al-Qaeda affiliates, including al-Jolani’s forces.

Syria has been shattered — 530,000 dead, 13 million displaced, with 6 million fleeing abroad.

Immigration jihad

Since 2001, U.S.-led wars have displaced 38 million people, destabilizing Europe and swelling its Muslim population to 44 million. Many have no interest in assimilating. Globalist elites and EU leaders have encouraged this migration to weaken national sovereignty and culture.

Clothes make the man?

When Assad fell, al-Jolani rebranded. Out went the mujahedeen garb; in came tailored European suits. Trump praised him and lifted sanctions, granting his regime international legitimacy.

Predictably, HTS continues slaughtering Christians, Druze, Alawites, and other Shia Muslims.

The choice ahead

When it comes to foreign affairs, Trump’s presidency is faltering. Badly. Caving to neocon interventionists has escalated war and betrayed his base. Embracing an al-Qaeda/ISIS warlord desecrates the memory of every victim of jihadist terror.

I still believe Trump’s instincts on war and peace can be right — if he listens to MAGA voices. Patriots inside and outside his administration must push him to break with the neocons, reject al-Jolani, and put America First again.

The terrorists run Syria now — and Christians, religious minorities are paying the price



Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, up until this month recognized by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, was formed as the result of the merger of al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, and other extremist groups committed to a "popular jihad."

HTS, which in recent years tried to rehab its public image, led the Turkish-backed Islamic militants who seized the Syrian capital of Damascus in December and ultimately overthrew the Assad regime — a regime change made possible with the help of the Obama CIA and the Pentagon.

Despite the HTS' murderous history and threats to the existence of Syria's Christians, Alawites, and Druze, Western neocons celebrated the replacement of Bashar al-Assad as president with HTS leader Muhammad al-Jawlani, who now goes by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.

'The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians.'

The Washington Post's foreign policy columnist Josh Rogin, for instance, wrote, "Syria is free. The rebels won. The people liberated themselves from tyranny." Trump critic Bill Kristol wrote, "The fall of a brutal dictator is rare enough that we should take the opportunity to celebrate it, and pay tribute to those who brought it about." Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) expressed hope in December that under the new terrorist leadership, Syria would "be a tolerant society accepting of people from all religious confessions."

Recent massacres, bombings, rapes, and kidnappings committed by al-Sharaa's forces, friends, and fellow travelers have provided strong indications that such celebrations were premature.

A source who routinely travels to Syria and who has been in recent contact with people in the country has shared with Blaze News insights about life for Christians and other religious minorities under the new regime.

RELATED: Syria's terrorist regime just killed an American citizen — more Christians, Druze are next

The Syrian regime's security forces roll into the Druze city of Suwayda on July 15. Photo by SAM HARIRI/AFP via Getty Image

"The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians and certainly dangerous for other religious minorities, with recent events in the governorate of Sweida tragically underscoring this reality," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous over security concerns. "On July 15, 2025, Sweida experienced a large-scale massacre resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians."

Between July 13 and July 20, over 1,200 people were were killed in clashes between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans, which were aided by al-Sharaa's forces, and Druze-linked militias in Syria's southern Druze-majority Suwayda province, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

There have reportedly been numerous religiously-motivated assassinations across the country in the days since.

The source noted that "among those killed was a prominent pastor of the local evangelical church, along with his entire family."

Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city "who had converted from another faith tradition, was known for his peaceful integration and for serving as a respected leader within both the church and the wider community," added the source.

The SOHR indicated that members of al-Sharaa's Ministry of Defense were responsible for the pastor's slaying.

In response to the historic bloodletting, Blaze News' source indicated that religious communities, including Orthodox and Catholic Christians, have opened their churches as a place of refuge, and "overcrowding is now common."

"This recent crisis highlights both the persistent vulnerability of religious minorities in Syria and the profound challenges they face in the current political landscape. The urgent calls for international protection reflect a widespread sense of abandonment and a desire for tangible, effective action from the global community," the source said.

Fr. Tony Boutros, a Melkite-Catholic priest in Suwayda who was among the Christian clergymen abducted by radicals in 2015, said in a recent video statement, "We ask the U.S., Europe, the Vatican, and the whole world for international protection for this region of Sweida, all of it, for us and for our Druze brothers, my dear ones. Look at the massacres that happened to us in Sweida."

'The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity.'

The source indicated that everyday life for Christians and other religious minorities in Syria can "appear relatively normal," but such appearances are deceptive, as "underlying fear and uncertainty are constant realities."

RELATED: New massacre, old problem: How Syria can protect its religious minorities

Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

"Most recently, the bombing at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus on June 22, 2025, during a Sunday liturgy, resulted in at least 20 deaths and dozens injured — demonstrating how quickly violence can erupt even in seemingly safe spaces," the source said. "In Sweida, the 'Suwayda Massacre' and other attacks have deepened a sense of vulnerability. Even where no violence is occurring, minorities remain wary, practicing their faith discreetly and living with a persistent sense of fragility, knowing that the situation can deteriorate suddenly and dramatically."

While life under the terrorist regime remains precarious, the source indicated that family presently in Syria believe "the situation is much better than what it was during the previous regime," although there is disagreement on this point.

"I used to say that nothing in the universe will be worse than the Assad regime. They were absolute monsters. However, if you ask someone from Sweida now, their answer would be different," the source said.

When pressed on whether something has been neglected in other reports that readers should know about the situation in Syria, the source noted, "The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity."

"Too often, reports paint Syria in black and white, but the reality is anything but simple," the source continued. "The situation shifts from city to city, even from one household to the next. It changes every day. Any responsible reporting has to acknowledge just how nuanced things are and resist the urge to generalize. Oversimplifying only does a disservice to the real lived experiences on the ground."

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Syria's terrorist regime just killed an American citizen — more Christians, Druze are next



Those who warned that the takeover of Damascus by Turkish-backed Islamic terrorists might bode poorly for Christians and other minorities in Syria have unfortunately been vindicated by the massacres, bombings, rapes, and kidnappings executed by Sunni radicals in recent days and months.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as of Sunday, over 1,200 people had been killed in the brutal clashes that broke out on July 13 between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans, which were aided at times by government forces, and Druze-linked militias in Syria's southern Druze-majority Suwayda province.

Among those slain in cold blood was Hosam Saraya, an American citizen and Oklahoman who Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R) and James Lankford (R) confirmed was executed alongside several members of his Druze family in Syria. An American relative of the deceased told CNN that Saraya had traveled to Syria to tend to his sick father.

Footage reportedly taken on July 17 shows a group of what appear to be government troops marching eight unarmed men — one of whom was later identified as Saraya by an American relative — to a roundabout, where they lined them up and gunned them down. While slaughtering the captives, the militants shouted, "Allahu Akbar."

One of the female survivors of the massacre said in a message to Saraya's American relative, "Pray for us, they kidnapped the boys, they shot the house, they stole stuff."

An individual claiming to be a relative of Saraya alleged on X that government security forces were responsible for the American citizen's execution and stressed that "what's happening is ethnic cleansing — the systematic killing of minorities, with no real intention for dialogue or protection."

RELATED: New massacre, old problem: How Syria can protect its religious minorities

Photo by BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

Although Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's forces were supposedly sent to restore order, Reuters indicated they effectively teamed up with the Sunni clans and attacked the Druze community.

It was certainly not the first time that al-Sharaa's men butchered Druze.

The State Department's Rewards for Justice program previously acknowledged that the al-Nusrah Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria under the leadership of al-Sharaa — also known as Muhammad al-Jawlani.

"In April 2015, ANF reportedly kidnapped, and later released, approximately 300 Kurdish civilians from a checkpoint in Syria," reads the bounty page for the Islamic terrorist. "In June 2015, ANF claimed responsibility for the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village of Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province, Syria."

The ANF merged with other radical groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the terrorist organization that seized the Syrian capital of Damascus in December under al-Sharaa's leadership and toppled the Assad government — a regime change that the Obama CIA and the Pentagon helped with along the way.

In hopes of "fulfilling President Trump's vision of a stable, unified, and peaceful Syria," the U.S. revoked the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of al-Nusrah Front and HTS on July 8.

'These are historic, longtime rivalries between different groups in the southwest of Syria.'

When pressed for comment about Saraya's slaying, a State Department spokesperson told Blaze News the department was "looking into accounts of the death of an individual reported to have been a U.S. citizen in Syria" and that the "U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens."

The department later confirmed that an American had indeed been killed in Syria.

The spokesperson refrained from commenting on whether government forces were involved in the slayings, whether the Trump administration was presently considering reapplying sanctions on Syria, and whether it may have been premature to drop the terrorism designation for al-Sharaa and his allies.

RELATED: Nigerian Christians face latest massacre by militant Muslims

Syrian President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa. Photo by AREF TAMMAWI/AFP via Getty Images

The situation was complicated further last week by the entry of another warring party.

Apparently without telegraphing its intentions to the U.S. — which has committed to supporting Damascus and a stable Syria — Israel executed a series of strikes last week against Syrian government troops and armor headed to Suwayda.

Axios reported that a day after after U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack asked his Israel counterparts to stand down on July 15, Israel bombed Syria's military headquarters in Damascus, just near the presidential palace.

Following the Israeli strikes — the stated purpose of which was to protect the Druze — and amid continued fighting in Suwayda, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the Oval Office on July 16 that "these are historic, longtime rivalries between different groups in the southwest of Syria — Bedouins, the Druze community — and it led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that President Donald Trump "was caught off guard by [Israel's] bombing in Syria and also the bombing of the Catholic church in Gaza."

Barrack, meanwhile, announced on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and al-Sharaa agreed to an American-backed ceasefire.

RELATED: 'Blown to bits': Suicide bomber targets Christian church in jihadist-controlled Syria

Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

"We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors," Barrack said.

When the Syrian government attempted to implement the ceasefire over the weekend, fighting reportedly escalated.

'Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city, was killed along with his wife, his children, and other relatives.'

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicated that "violations include the arrival of reinforcement from military forces affiliated with the Damascus government to the north-western outskirts of Al-Suwaidaa province and along Damascus-Suwaidaa highway."

Dr. Joel Veldkamp, director for public advocacy at Christian Solidarity International, told Blaze News that while the fighting has been momentarily paused in Suwayda, "the conditions for mass killings are all present," adding that "hundreds of thousands of Druzes and Alawites (and Sunni Muslim Bedouins) have been driven from their homes in the last few months and are living in precarity, a known risk factor for genocide."

"The Syrian government is determined to take control of Suwayda governorate by force and seems, at best, unable to do that without sending in jihadist shock troops who will kill people on the basis of their religion," Veldkamp continued. "If talks break down between the government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast, we could see a replay of last week's violence in the northeast Syria as well."

Veldkamp noted that "what we might call slow-motion ethnic/religious cleansing is under way" elsewhere in the country.

"In Homs, Hama, and on the Syrian coast, Alawites and Druzes are abducted on a weekly or even daily basis, and many are looking for a way to flee the country," Veldkamp said. "Many Alawites, before and after the March massacres, have been expelled from their villages by government forces, and their lands have been distributed to Sunni Muslims."

Veldkamp confirmed that Christians in Suwayda were also impacted by the government forces' latest attacks.

"Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city, was killed along with his wife, his children, and other relatives — 12 people in all," Veldkamp said. "The Greek Orthodox Church put out a statement saying that their church members, like everyone in the province, were suffering from the cutoff of medicine, water, electricity, and food to the province during last week’s attack. Mar Mikhael Church in the village of Al-Soura Al-Kabira was set on fire."

Aid to the Church in Need International reported that 38 homes belonging to Christian families were also torched in Al-Soura. Some of those made homeless by the apparent attacks have taken refuge in the hall of a different church, where they are sitting ducks.

'Al-Sharaa has concentrated power in his own hands, and his forces have now carried out repeated massacres of religious minorities.'

This latest bout of violence comes just weeks after a jihadist opened fire on Syrian Christians gathered for Mass inside the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in Damascus, then detonated an explosive vest, killing at least 25 Christians and wounding 63 others. A government-linked group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Months earlier, the terrorist regime in Damascus dispatched tens of thousands of security forces and auxiliary fighters to the western coastal region largely populated by Alawites, adherents of an offshoot of Shia Islam, and Christians, where they killed hundreds of perceived Assad loyalists.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, security forces also killed at least 973 civilians in 39 massacres and undertook "executions based on regional and sectarian affiliation." Women and children were reportedly among the butchered civilians.

The regime denied that it was directly responsible for the massacres on the west coast, but Christian Solidarity indicated that Damascus had called for volunteers to mobilize while Sunni mosques across the country called for a jihad in the coastal region.

RELATED: Pope renews call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza following deadly church bombing

US President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) along with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (R) on May 14, 2025. Photo by Bandar Al-Jaloud/Saudi Royal Court/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Veldkamp suggeted that it was premature to drop the terrorism designation for al-Sharaa and his allies, noting that "the terrorism designation was well-earned and was an important piece of leverage that the U.S. could have, and should have, used to demand protection for religious minorities in Syria and an inclusive government."

"Instead, al-Sharaa has concentrated power in his own hands, and his forces have now carried out repeated massacres of religious minorities," Veldkamp added.

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New massacre, old problem: How Syria can protect its religious minorities



As Syria’s Christian community mourns its dead, we are compelled to confront the barbaric act committed against the Orthodox Christian community and the persistent dangers facing other minorities in the region. To understand this tragedy and chart a path forward, we must first revisit the turbulent history of Syria and the Levant.

In the early 20th century, Syria stood at the crossroads of empire and identity. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I gave way to the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which carved up the Levant into spheres of European influence.

In Syria, federalism could succeed if implemented with fairness, robust minority protections, and international support to prevent external meddling.

Syria fell under French mandate in 1920, a betrayal of promises for an independent Arab kingdom. Instead, it became a colonial outpost shaped by European interests rather than the aspirations of its diverse peoples: Sunnis, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druze, and others. The French exploited sectarian divisions to maintain control, sowing seeds of mistrust that would linger for generations.

When Syria gained independence in 1946, it inherited a fragmented society with no clear framework for governing its complex population. The decades that followed were marked by coups, political instability, and the rise of the Ba’ath Party, which promised secular socialism but delivered authoritarianism instead.

Hafez al-Assad’s ascent in 1970 cemented a dynastic rule that concentrated power in a narrow, Alawite-dominated elite. While the regime claimed to protect minorities, it often sidelined or suppressed other ethnic and religious groups, fostering resentment beneath a veneer of secular nationalism.

A brutal turning point

The Arab Spring of 2011 shattered this fragile order. Peaceful protests against authoritarianism were met with brutal repression, igniting a civil war that drew in foreign powers and fractured the nation.

Amid the chaos, extremist factions like ISIS emerged, targeting religious minorities as enemies of their radical vision. Christians, whose presence in Syria dates back two millennia, faced systematic persecution, with historic churches destroyed and communities displaced.

This past year, the trauma deepened. Last month, a suicide bomber opened fire during Sunday mass in a small church in western Syria, killing 22 worshippers and wounding 63 in an attack reminiscent of ISIS’ atrocities in Qaraqosh and Maaloula.

The Druze minority in the south faced similar threats from Islamic groups within the coalition that ousted the Assad regime. To their credit, the Druze, with support from Israel, armed and defended their communities. The Alawite minority endured revenge killings in the wake of regime change, while the Kurds, battle-hardened but geopolitically isolated, remain vulnerable due to Turkey’s hostility.

These incidents underscore a grim reality: Syria’s minorities are pawns in a larger geopolitical game, their survival perpetually at risk.

A new solution: Federalism

This is not a moment for empty platitudes. Syria needs to confront a painful truth: A unitary, centrally governed state has repeatedly failed to protect its people, especially its minorities. The alternative, however, is federalism.

A federal Syria would not mean partition but rather an organized decentralization of power. Regions could govern themselves according to their cultural, ethnic, or religious identities, while national unity would be preserved for issues like foreign policy and defense. Christians, Druze, Alawites, and Kurds could administer their affairs, ensure their security, preserve their heritage, and rebuild trust in governance.

Such a system would empower local communities to protect Christian populations, preventing the decimation of ancient communities as seen in Iraq after 2003. A federal structure would foster resilience against external threats, allowing minorities to safeguard their futures.

RELATED: Syria’s new rulers: From jihadist terror to ‘moderate’ media rebrand

Wildpixel via iStock/Getty Images

Federalism, though imperfect, has stabilized other post-conflict, multiethnic societies. Iraq’s Kurdish region, despite challenges, enjoys significant autonomy. Bosnia’s power-sharing model, while complex, has maintained peace. Even Switzerland’s federal system, rooted in linguistic and cultural diversity, provides a blueprint for striking a balance between local autonomy and national cohesion.

In Syria, federalism could succeed if implemented with fairness, robust minority protections, and international support to prevent external meddling.

A break from the past

Pan-Arab nationalism and centralized rule, imposed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, failed to deliver either stability or pluralism. Syria’s latest church attack adds to a long history of betrayals against its minority populations.

To survive as more than a failed state, Syria must adopt a structure that protects the vulnerable and manages its divisions, not one that tries to crush them. Federalism won’t solve everything, and many will resist it. But Syria has already tested the alternative — consolidated power, endless violence — and that path led to ruin.

Western inaction fuels Christian persecution in Syria and the Middle East



Reports from Syria this week reveal a horrifying wave of violence against Christians and Alawites. The terror group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls parts of Syria, has reportedly massacred hundreds of these minority groups. This brutal attack serves as a grim reminder of the ongoing persecution Christians face under Islamist regimes — a crisis that the international community largely ignores.

The Trump administration condemned the killings at a crucial moment. While much of the world focuses on the political complexities of the Middle East, the reality on the ground for Christians is dire. As the Syrian government has collapsed, Assad loyalists — flawed as they may be — have been overwhelmed by jihadists intent on eliminating Christians. The choice for many is bleak: convert, flee, or face death.

We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Christians around the world.

Let’s put the blame where it belongs. The perpetrators of this violence are no friends of freedom or democracy. HTS, originally an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, is no better than ISIS. These groups have a proven track record of targeting minorities — Christians, Yazidis, and anyone who doesn't conform to their radical version of Islam. In their world, there’s no room for dissent. Convert or die — it’s as simple and as terrifying as that.

The situation in Syria isn’t just about two warring factions. It’s about innocent people paying the price for geopolitical blunders that have spanned decades. Bashar al-Assad’s regime, itself a brutal dictatorship, had relied on sectarian divisions to maintain power. But when the West, particularly under the Obama administration, empowered elements of the so-called Arab Spring — only to watch them devolve into radical Islamic regimes — we set the stage for more massacres.

History repeats itself

The same pattern played out in Libya: Western intervention, followed by chaos, and the rise of violent extremists. The tragedy in Syria is no different. The same forces that were once seen as “freedom fighters” are now the ones persecuting Christians with impunity.

The past few years have seen a drastic decline in Christian populations across the Middle East. In Iraq, the number of Christians has fallen from 1.5 million to fewer than 200,000 since the rise of ISIS. In Syria, the Christian population has dropped from over a million to fewer than 300,000 — a number likely to decrease further if current trends continue. Meanwhile, Boko Haram has killed more than 12,000 Christians in Nigeria over the past five years.

The West’s inaction in response to this persecution is maddening. Thousands of Christians are being slaughtered, yet Europe and other Western nations seem more concerned with political correctness than with protecting those who are being killed for their faith. Why aren’t these refugees being granted asylum? Why do those fleeing regimes that commit such atrocities receive less attention than others escaping different conflicts?

Why are Christians forgotten?

The conflict in Syria isn’t a matter of simple political alignment. Neither side can claim to be the “good guys.” Bashar al-Assad is a bad actor, but so is the opposition. Both have blood on their hands. Meanwhile, Syrian Christians are caught in the crossfire of a proxy war, abandoned by the international community.

In 2024 alone, nearly 5,000 Christians were killed worldwide for their faith. This isn’t just a tragic statistic — it reflects a long-standing pattern of violence. The slaughter of Christians in Syria is merely the latest chapter in this ongoing tragedy.

Time to step up

The question now is: What are we going to do about it? We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Christians around the world.

The Trump administration has made it clear that these atrocities cannot go unnoticed. It’s time for the rest of the world to step up and take a stand, not just for the people of Syria but for all those facing persecution under the hands of radical Islamist groups.

If history has taught us anything, it’s that when we ignore the suffering of minorities, it only sets the stage for more violence. We must act before it’s too late.

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Trump admin condemns butchery of Syrian Christians, Alawites reportedly by regime-aligned jihadists



The Trump administration is demanding accountability in Syria following reports that the terrorists now running the war-ravaged nation and their allies have resumed their slaughter of non-Sunni Muslims, Christians, and other minorities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Sunday, "The United States condemns the radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days."

"The United States stands with Syria's religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families," continued Rubio.

Rubio added in his Sunday statement, "Syria's interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria's minority communities accountable."

'We should take the opportunity to celebrate it, and pay tribute to those who brought it about.'

Turkish-backed Islamic militants toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime in December — an act former President Joe Biden called "a fundamental act of justice." The group was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that has long brutalized Christians and which was effectively spun off from Al-Qaeda, another terrorist organization that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicated in 2012 was "on our side in Syria."

Before becoming Syria's president in late January, the specially designated global terrorist leader of HTS, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, suggested that the regime change that the Obama CIA and the Pentagon helped with was a "victory for all Syrians" and that there might be relative tolerance, including for non-Sunni Muslims and other minorities.

The terrorist fooled various American officials and media personalities.

The Washington Post's foreign policy columnist, for instance, wrote, "Syria is free. The rebels won. The people liberated themselves from tyranny." Trump critic Bill Kristol wrote, "The fall of a brutal dictator is rare enough that we should take the opportunity to celebrate it, and pay tribute to those who brought it about." Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) expressed hope in December that under the new terrorist leadership, Syria would "be a tolerant society accepting of people from all religious confessions."

Recent mass killings and public executions have proven the Jolani regime's commitment to tolerance wanting and the nation's collective victory to have been short-lived.

'He has removed the mask, revealing his true face: a jihadist terrorist from the Al-Qaeda school.'

On Thursday, Assad loyalists who refused to surrender their weapons launched an attack on Syrian security forces near the port city of Latakia in the western region largely populated by Alawites, adherents to an offshoot of Shia Islam, and Christians. The gunmen, who were apparently Alawites, seized control of Assad's hometown, Qardaha, reported the Associated Press.

The Jolani regime dispatched tens of thousands of security forces and auxiliary fighters to the coastal region to launch a counteroffensive, killing hundreds of Assad loyalists.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, security forces also killed at least 973 civilians in 39 massacres and undertook "executions based on regional and sectarian affiliation." Women and children were reportedly among the butchered civilians.

British parliamentarian Andrew Rosindell likened the violence to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and noted that "from the footage I have seen, Alawite Muslims, Christians, Druze, and other minorities are being hunted down, tortured, and murdered in cold blood," reported GB News.

"This comes as a part of the unprecedented escalation of retaliatory actions and genocide which started on March 7 in four Syrian provinces," stated the Syrian Observatory. "The bloody actions, which are still ongoing, coincide with setting fire to civilian houses and forcible displacements, while no international authorities have interfered or taken any actions so far to put an end to those massacres."

Reuters, which was unable to independently verify the watchdog group's death tolls, reported that regime officials have acknowledged the murder of civilians but blamed unorganized civilians and fighters, claiming they were trying to help security forces or take advantage of the chaos.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz tweeted, "al-Julani took off his galabiya, put on a suit, and presented a moderate facade. Now, he has removed the mask, revealing his true face: a jihadist terrorist from the Al-Qaeda school, committing atrocities against the Alawite civilian population."

While the Jolani regime has suggested it was not directly responsible for the recent massacres, the European organization Christian Solidarity suggested that Damascus called last week for volunteers to mobilize while Sunni mosques across the country called for a jihad in the coastal region.

Numerous residents in the coastal region told Reuters that thousands of Christians and Alwaites have fled in recent days, fearing for their lives. Some of those seeking to avoid executions at the hand of Sunni terrorists have apparently taken refuge at a Russian air base in Hmeimim.

Ahead of the 2024 election, President Donald Trump vowed to "protect persecuted Christians."

Vice President JD Vance echoed the president in October, writing, "The United States should fight against the persecution of Christians all over the world, and it will when President Trump is back in the White House."

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