Syrian Christians and Druze face persecution under Islamist government

In recent days, heartbreaking reports have emerged from Syria: brutal murders of innocent civilians — many from minority Christian and Druze communities — allegedly perpetrated by forces aligned with the country’s Islamist regime, now led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre, “Abu Mohammed al-Golani,” long on the FBI’s Most Wanted List from 2013 through 2024 for his role in Sunni Islamist regional terror groups.

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As a Syrian-American, my heart aches for what has become of my ancestral homeland. As a physician, I cannot detach myself from the human suffering behind each headline. And as someone who has spent decades warning of the rising threat of Islamism, I am sounding the alarm: a new tyranny is taking root in Syria, cloaked in religious language, but every bit as dangerous and destructive as the last. The importance of exposing, understanding and confronting early inflection points in Syria towards yet another tyranny after over 55 years of Ba’athist military dictatorship cannot be overstated.

The world has grown tragically used to Syrian suffering. Since the Assad regime began its campaign of terror in 2011, against the long-overdue revolution of anti-government protests, the country has become synonymous with war, displacement and loss. More than half a million people have been killed. Over 13 million have been displaced. Cities, like my ancestral hometown of Aleppo, have been reduced to rubble. And yet, from the ashes of Bashar al-Assad’s family reign, a new authoritarianism is emerging, this time driven not by secular fascism, but by religious supremacism.

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The reports we are now receiving point to sectarian violence targeting Syria’s religious minorities, specifically Christians and the Druze. These are communities that have existed in Syria for centuries, long before the rise of Islam, and that have weathered waves of persecution. Now they are being targeted again, this time by groups sympathetic to the new regime whose leaders adhere to an Islamist interpretation of Sunni Islam, and who view theological difference not as a reality of pluralism but as a crime worthy of death.

This is not Islam. This is Islamism.

Islamism is a doctrinal interpretation that promotes a rigid, theocratic vision of Islam as a political system. It seeks to implement sharia, or Islamic law, not simply as a personal or spiritual guide, but as the governing authority over every aspect of public and private life. Islamists see the rights of citizens coming not from God but from their theocratic version of Islam. Islamists believe their political power is divinely mandated and dissent is  heretical and treasonous. This is not faith. It is fascism wrapped in the language of God.

For years, Islamists have falsely presented themselves as the antidote to Assad’s tyranny. They have told the world they are fighting for freedom, justice and democracy. But let’s be clear: the Islamists now in power are no different from Assad. Their language and methods may differ, but their goals are the same: absolute control, achieved through fear, violence and repression. 

Where the Assads used torture chambers and chemical weapons, the Islamists use a cult-like religious identity as both sword and shield. Where the Assads sowed sectarianism in order to then crush dissent in the name of national unity, the Islamists now do the same in the name of their version of “divine truth.”

And the result is the same: bodies in the streets, families torn apart and the suffocation of any future for liberty.

At the heart of this struggle is a principle that we, in America, hold dear — but that is increasingly endangered across the globe: religious freedom. It is not just one right among many. It is the foundation of all others. As I have said many times: religious liberty is the tip of the spear of all freedoms. It is the “First Liberty.” When it flourishes, society flourishes. When it is crushed, all other freedoms fall.

This is not abstract philosophy. This is the lived reality of millions. When people are denied the freedom to worship and believe — or not believe — according to their conscience, it is only a matter of time before they are also denied the freedom to speak, to assemble, to vote, to live without fear. Syria is a tragic case study in what happens when religious liberty is replaced by ideological authoritarianism, whether secular or theocratic.

At the CLARITy Coalition, we are committed to shining a light on the threats posed by both political Islam and authoritarian regimes. We are a network of Muslims, ex-Muslims and allies from across the ideological spectrum who believe that liberty is not just a Western value. It is a human one. We believe in the dignity of every person, the equality of all before the law and the essential truth that no government has the right to tell you what to believe.

We call on the international community not just to condemn the latest atrocities in Syria but to act. That means demanding investigations into the massacres now being reported. It means holding the government in Damascus accountable and demanding transparency in how their nascent government protects every minority and every citizen. 

It means withholding recognition and support from any regime that commits or enables such crimes. It means recognizing Islamism as the dangerous political ideology that it is, not a legitimate expression of religious faith, but an extremist perversion of it.

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In 2013, the Obama administration enabled, empowered and celebrated the “democratically” elected Islamist regime of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, laying the groundwork for the return of yet another military regime in current leader Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Syria’s profound religious diversity can be a bulwark against these dueling fascisms and Game of Thrones.  

But this means standing with the Syrian people: Christians, Druze, Sunnis, Shi’a, Alawites, Kurds, atheists, everyone who yearns for a Syria where they can live in peace, worship freely, assemble and speak their minds without fear. 

President Donald Trump should immediately call for a full accountability and transparency from Damascus on Sharaa’s government’s treatment of minorities and his direct responsibility for the freedom of religious minorities under his rule.

The Syrian people deserve better than a choice between Assad and al-Golani. They deserve a future rooted not in sectarianism and violence, but in liberty and dignity.

The world ignored Syria once before, and the price was horrific. We cannot afford to ignore it again.